Hybrid tomato plant named hmc44131

ABSTRACT

A novel hybrid tomato plant, designated HMC44131 is disclosed. The disclosure relates to the seeds of hybrid tomato designated HMC44131, to the plants and plant parts of hybrid tomato designated HMC44131, and to methods for producing a tomato plant by crossing the hybrid tomato HMC44131 with itself or another tomato plant.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to the field of agriculture, to new anddistinctive hybrid tomato plants, such as a hybrid plant designatedHMC44131 and to methods of making and using such hybrids.

BACKGROUND

The following description includes information that may be useful inunderstanding the present disclosure. It is not an admission that any ofthe information provided herein is prior art or relevant to the presentdisclosure, or that any publication specifically or implicitlyreferenced is prior art.

Tomato is an important and valuable vegetable crop. Thus, a continuinggoal of plant breeders is to develop stable, high yielding tomatohybrids that are agronomically sound or unique. The reasons for thisgoal are to maximize the amount of fruit produced on the land used(yield) as well as to improve the fruit appearance, the fruit shape andsize, eating and processing qualities and/or the plant agronomic andhorticultural qualities. To accomplish this goal, the tomato breedermust select and develop tomato plants that have the traits that resultin superior parental lines that combine to produce superior hybrids.

SUMMARY

The following embodiments and aspects thereof are described inconjunction with systems, tools and methods which are meant to beexemplary, not limiting in scope.

According to the disclosure, in some embodiments there is provided anovel hybrid tomato designated HMC44131, also interchangeably referredto as ‘hybrid tomato HMC44131’, ‘tomato hybrid HMC44131’ or ‘HMC44131’.

This disclosure thus relates to the seeds of hybrid tomato designatedHMC44131, to the plants or parts of hybrid tomato designated HMC44131,to plants or parts thereof comprising all of the physiological andmorphological characteristics of hybrid tomato designated HMC44131 orparts thereof, and/or having all of the physiological and morphologicalcharacteristics of hybrid tomato designated HMC44131, and/or having oneor more of or all the characteristics of hybrid tomato designatedHMC44131 listed in Table 1 including but not limited to as determined atthe 5% significance level when grown in the same environmentalconditions, and/or having one or more of the physiological andmorphological characteristics of hybrid tomato designated HMC44131listed in Table 1 including but not limited to as determined at the 5%significance level when grown in the same environmental conditionsand/or having all of the physiological and morphological characteristicsof hybrid tomato designated HMC44131 listed in Table 1 including but notlimited to as determined at the 5% significance level when grown in thesame environmental conditions and/or having one or more of thephysiological and morphological characteristics of hybrid tomatodesignated HMC44131 listed in Table 1 when grown in the sameenvironmental conditions and/or having all of the physiological andmorphological characteristics of hybrid tomato designated HMC44131listed in Table 1 when grown in the same environmental conditions. Thedisclosure also relates to variants, mutants and trivial modificationsof the seed or plant of hybrid tomato designated HMC44131.

Plant parts of the hybrid tomato plant designated HMC44131 of thepresent disclosure are also provided, such as, but not limited to, ascion, a rootstock, a fruit, a leaf, a flower, a peduncle, a stalk, aroot, a stamen, an anther, a pistil, a pollen or an ovule obtained fromthe hybrid plant. The present disclosure provides fruit of the hybridtomato plant designated HMC44131 of the present disclosure. Such fruitand parts thereof could be used as fresh products for consumption or inprocesses resulting in processed products such as food productscomprising one or more harvested parts of the hybrid tomato designatedHMC44131, such as prepared fruit or parts thereof, canned fruit or partsthereof, freeze-dried or frozen fruits or parts thereof, diced fruits,juices, prepared fruit cuts, canned tomatoes, pastes, sauces, purees,catsups and the like. All such products are part of the presentdisclosure and the like. The harvested parts or food products can be orcan comprise hybrid tomato fruit from hybrid tomato designated HMC44131.The food products might have undergone one or more processing steps suchas, but not limited to cutting, washing, mixing, frizzing, canning, etc.All such products are part of the present disclosure. The presentdisclosure also provides plant parts or cells of the hybrid tomato plantdesignated HMC44131, wherein a plant regenerated from said plants partsor cells has one or more of, or all the phenotypic and morphologicalcharacteristics of hybrid tomato designated HMC44131, such as one ormore of or all the characteristics of hybrid tomato plant designatedHMC44131, listed in Table 1 including but not limited to as determinedat the 5% significance level when grown in the same environmentalconditions. All such parts and cells are part of the present disclosure.

The plants and seeds of the present disclosure include those that may beof an essentially derived variety as defined in section 41(3) of thePlant Variety Protection Act of The United States of America, e.g., avariety that is predominantly derived from hybrid tomato designatedHMC44131 or from a variety that i) is predominantly derived from hybridtomato designated HMC44131, while retaining the expression of theessential characteristics that result from the genotype or combinationof genotypes of hybrid tomato designated HMC44131; ii) is clearlydistinguishable from hybrid tomato designated HMC44131; and iii) exceptfor differences that result from the act of derivation, conforms to theinitial variety in the expression of the essential characteristics thatresult from the genotype or combination of genotypes of the hybridtomato plant designated HMC44131.

In another aspect, the present disclosure provides regenerable cells. Insome embodiments, the regenerable cells are for use in tissue culture ofhybrid tomato designated HMC44131. In some embodiments, the tissueculture is capable of regenerating plants comprising all of thephysiological and morphological characteristics of hybrid tomatodesignated HMC44131, and/or having all of the physiological andmorphological characteristics of hybrid tomato designated HMC44131,and/or having one or more of the physiological and morphologicalcharacteristics of hybrid tomato designated HMC44131, and/or having thecharacteristics of hybrid tomato designated HMC44131. In someembodiments, the regenerated plants have the characteristics of hybridtomato designated HMC44131 listed in Table 1 including but not limitedto as determined at the 5% significance level when grown in the sameenvironmental conditions and/or have all of the physiological andmorphological characteristics of hybrid tomato designated HMC44131listed in Table 1 including but not limited to as determined at the 5%significance level when grown in the same environmental conditionsand/or have one or more of the physiological and morphologicalcharacteristics hybrid tomato designated HMC44131 listed in Table 1including but not limited to as determined at the 5% significance levelwhen grown in the same environmental conditions and/or have all of thephysiological and morphological characteristics of hybrid tomatodesignated HMC44131 listed in Table 1 when grown in the sameenvironmental conditions.

In some embodiments, the plant parts and cells used to produce suchtissue cultures will be embryos, meristematic cells, seeds, callus,pollens, leaves, anthers, pistils, stamens, roots, root tips, stems,petioles, fruits, cotyledons, hypocotyls, ovaries, seed coats, fruits,stalks, endosperms, flowers, axillary buds or the like. Protoplastsproduced from such tissue culture are also included in the presentdisclosure. The tomato leaves, shoots, roots and whole plantsregenerated from the tissue culture, as well as the fruits produced bysaid regenerated plants are also part of the disclosure. In someembodiments, the whole plants regenerated from the tissue culture haveone, more than one, or all of the physiological and morphologicalcharacteristics of tomato hybrid designated HMC44131 listed in Table 1,including but not limited to as determined at the 5% significance levelwhen grown in the same environmental conditions.

The disclosure also provides for methods for vegetatively propagating aplant of the present disclosure. In the present application,vegetatively propagating can be interchangeably used with vegetativereproduction. In some embodiments, the methods comprise collecting partsof a hybrid tomato designated HMC44131 and regenerating a plant fromsaid parts. In some embodiments, one of the parts can be for example astem. In some embodiments, the methods can be for example a stem cuttingthat is rooted into an appropriate medium according to techniques knownby the one skilled in the art. Plants and parts thereof, including butnot limited to fruits thereof, produced by such methods are alsoincluded in the present disclosure. In another aspect, the plants andparts thereof such as stems and fruits produced by such methods compriseall of the physiological and morphological characteristics of hybridtomato designated HMC44131, and/or have all of the physiological andmorphological characteristics of hybrid tomato designated HMC44131and/or have the physiological and morphological characteristics ofhybrid tomato designated HMC44131 and/or have one or more of thecharacteristics of hybrid tomato designated HMC44131. In someembodiments, plants, parts or fruits thereof produced by such methodsconsist of one, more than one, or all of the physiological andmorphological characteristics of tomato hybrid designated HMC44131listed in Table 1, including but not limited to as determined at the 5%significance level when grown in the same environmental conditions.

Further included in the disclosure are methods for producing fruitsand/or seeds from the hybrid tomato designated HMC44131. In someembodiments, the methods comprise growing a hybrid tomato designatedHMC44131 to produce tomato fruits and/or seeds. In some embodiments, themethods further comprise harvesting the hybrid tomato fruits and/orseeds. Such fruits and/or seeds are parts of the present disclosure. Insome embodiments, such fruits and/or seeds have all of the physiologicaland morphological characteristics of the fruits and/or seeds of hybridtomato designated HMC44131 (e.g. those listed in Table 1) when grown inthe same environmental conditions and/or have one or more of thephysiological and morphological characteristics of the fruits and/orseeds of the hybrid tomato designated HMC44131 (e.g. those listed inTable 1) when grown in the same environmental conditions and/or have thecharacteristics of the fruits and/or seeds of the hybrid tomatodesignated HMC44131 (e.g. those listed in Table 1) when grown in thesame environmental conditions.

Also included in this disclosure are methods for producing a tomatoplant. In some embodiments, the tomato plant is produced by crossing thehybrid tomato designated HMC44131 with itself or other tomato plant. Insome embodiments, the other plant can be a hybrid tomato other than thehybrid tomato designated HMC44131. In other embodiments, the other plantcan be a tomato inbred line. When crossed with an inbred line, in someembodiments, a “three-way cross” is produced. When crossed with itself(i.e. when a tomato HMC44131 is crossed with another hybrid tomatoHMC44131 plant or when self-pollinated), or with another, differenthybrid tomato, in some embodiments, a “four-way” cross is produced. Suchthree and four-way hybrid seeds and plants produced by growing saidthree and four-way hybrid seeds are included in the present disclosure.Methods for producing a three and four-way hybrid tomato seedscomprising (a) crossing hybrid tomato designated HMC44131 tomato plantwith a different tomato inbred line or hybrid and (b) harvesting theresultant hybrid tomato seed are also part of the disclosure. The hybridtomato seeds produced by the method comprising crossing hybrid tomatodesignated HMC44131 tomato plant with a different tomato plant such as atomato inbred line or hybrid, and harvesting the resultant hybrid tomatoseed are included in the disclosure, as are included the hybrid tomatoplant or parts thereof and seeds produced by said grown hybrid tomatoplants.

Further included in the disclosure are methods for producing tomatoseeds and plants made thereof. In some embodiments, the methods compriseself-pollinating the hybrid tomato designated HMC44131 and harvestingthe resultant hybrid seeds. Tomato seeds produced by such method arealso part of the disclosure.

In another embodiment, this disclosure relates to methods for producinga hybrid tomato designated HMC44131 from a collection of seeds.

In some embodiments, the collection contains both seeds of inbred parentline(s) of hybrid tomato designated HMC44131 and hybrid seeds ofHMC44131. Such a collection of seeds might be a commercial bag of seeds.In some embodiments, said methods comprise planting the collection ofseeds. When planted, the collection of seeds will produce inbred parentlines of hybrid tomato HMC44131 and hybrid plants from the hybrid seedsof HMC44131. In some embodiments, said inbred parent lines of hybridtomato designated HMC44131 plants are identified as having a decreasedvigor compared to the other plants (i.e. hybrid plants) grown from thecollection of seeds. In some embodiments, said decreased vigor is due tothe inbreeding depression effect and can be identified for example by aless vigorous appearance for vegetative and/or reproductivecharacteristics including a shorter plant height, small fruit size,fruit shape, fruit color or other characteristics. In some embodiments,seeds of the inbred parent lines of the hybrid tomato HMC44131 arecollected and, if new inbred parent plants thereof are grown and crossedin a controlled manner with each other, the hybrid tomato HMC44131 willbe recreated.

This disclosure also relates to methods for producing other tomatoplants derived from hybrid tomato HMC44131 and to the tomato plantsderived by the use of methods described herein.

In some embodiments, such methods for producing a tomato plant derivedfrom hybrid tomato HMC44131 comprise (a) self-pollinating the hybridtomato HMC44131 plant at least once to produce a progeny plant derivedfrom the hybrid tomato HMC44131. In some embodiments, the methodsfurther comprise (b) crossing the progeny plant derived from the hybridtomato HMC44131 with itself or a second tomato plant to produce a seedof a progeny plant of a subsequent generation. In some embodiments, themethods further comprise (c) growing the progeny plant of the subsequentgeneration. In some embodiments, the methods further comprise (d)crossing the progeny plant of the subsequent generation with itself or asecond tomato plant to produce a tomato plant further derived from thehybrid tomato HMC44131. In further embodiments, steps (b), step (c)and/or step (d) are repeated for at least 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, ormore generations to produce a tomato plant derived from the hybridtomato HMC44131. In some embodiments, within each crossing cycle, thesecond plant is the same plant as the second plant in the last crossingcycle. In some embodiments, within each crossing cycle, the second plantis different from the second plant in the last crossing cycle.

Another method for producing a tomato plant derived from hybrid tomatoHMC44131, comprises (a) crossing the hybrid tomato HMC44131 plant with asecond tomato plant to produce a progeny plant derived from the hybridtomato HMC44131. In some embodiments, the method further comprises (b)crossing the progeny plant derived from the hybrid tomato HMC44131 withitself or a second tomato plant to produce a seed of a progeny plant ofa subsequent generation. In some embodiments, the method furthercomprises (c) growing the progeny plant of the subsequent generation. Insome embodiments, the method further comprises (d) crossing the progenyplant of the subsequent generation with itself or a second tomato plantto produce a tomato plant derived from the hybrid tomato HMC44131. In afurther embodiment, steps (b), (c) and/or (d) are repeated for at least1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, or more generations to produce a tomato plantderived from the hybrid tomato HMC44131. In some embodiments, withineach crossing cycle, the second plant is the same plant as the secondplant in the last crossing cycle. In some embodiments, within eachcrossing cycle, the second plant is different from the second plant inthe last crossing cycle.

In one aspect, the present disclosure provides methods of introducing asingle locus conversion conferring one or more desired trait(s) into thehybrid tomato HMC44131, and plants, fruits and/or seeds obtained fromsuch methods. In another aspect, the present disclosure provides methodsof modifying a single locus and conferring one or more desired trait(s)into the hybrid tomato HMC44131, and plants, fruits and/or seedsobtained from such methods. The desired trait(s) may be, but notexclusively, conferred by a single locus that contains a single and/ormultiple gene(s). In some embodiments, the gene is a dominant allele. Insome embodiments, the gene is a partially dominant allele. In someembodiments, the gene is a recessive allele. In some embodiments, thegene or genes will confer or modify such traits, including but notlimited to male sterility, herbicide resistance, insect resistance,resistance for bacterial, fungal, mycoplasma or viral disease, enhancedplant quality such as improved drought or salt tolerance, water-stresstolerance, improved standability, enhanced plant vigor, improved shelflife, delayed senescence or controlled ripening, enhanced nutritionalquality such as increased sugar content or increased sweetness,increased texture, flavor and aroma, improved fruit length and/or size,protection for color, fruit shape, uniformity, length or diameter,refinement or depth, lodging resistance, yield and recovery, improvefresh cut application, specific aromatic compounds, specific volatiles,flesh texture and specific nutritional components. For the presentdisclosure and the skilled artisan, disease is understood to include,but not limited to fungal diseases, viral diseases, bacterial diseases,mycoplasma diseases, or other plant pathogenic diseases and a diseaseresistant plant will encompass a plant resistant to fungal, viral,bacterial, mycoplasma, and other plant pathogens. In one aspect, thegene or genes may be naturally occurring tomato gene(s) and/orspontaneous or induced mutations(s). In another aspect, genes aremutated, modified, genetically engineered through the use of NewBreeding Techniques described herein. In some embodiments, the methodfor introducing the desired trait(s) is a backcrossing process by makinguse of a series of backcrosses to at least one of the parent lines ofhybrid tomato designated HMC44131 (a.k.a. hybrid tomato HMC44131 ortomato hybrid HMC44131) during which the desired trait(s) is maintainedby selection. At least one of the parent lines of hybrid tomatodesignated HMC44131 possesses the desired trait(s) by the backcrossingprocess, and the desired trait(s) is inherited by the hybrid tomatoprogeny plants by conventional breeding techniques known to breeders ofordinary skill in the art. The single gene converted plants or singlelocus converted plants that can be obtained by the methods are includedin the present disclosure.

When dealing with a gene that has been modified, for example through NewBreeding Techniques, the trait (genetic modification) could be directlymodified into the newly developed hybrid tomato plant and/or at leastone of the parent lines of hybrid tomato HMC44131. Alternatively, if thetrait is not modified into each newly developed hybrid tomato plantand/or at least one of the parent lines of hybrid tomato HMC44131,another typical method used by breeders of ordinary skill in the art toincorporate the modified gene is to take a line already carrying themodified gene and to use such line as a donor line to transfer themodified gene into the newly developed hybrid tomato plant and/or atleast one of the parent lines of the newly developed hybrid. The samewould apply for a naturally occurring trait or one arising fromspontaneous or induced mutations.

In some embodiments, the backcross breeding process of hybrid tomatoHMC44131 comprises (a) crossing one of the parental inbred line plantsof hybrid tomato HMC44131 with plants of another line that comprise thedesired trait(s) to produce F₁ progeny plants. In some embodiments, theprocess further comprises (b) selecting the F₁ progeny plants that havethe desired trait(s). In some embodiments, the process further comprises(c) crossing the selected F₁ progeny plants with the parental inbredtomato lines of hybrid tomato HMC44131 plants to produce backcrossprogeny plants. In some embodiments, the process further comprises (d)selecting for backcross progeny plants that have the desired trait(s)and essentially all of the physiological and morphologicalcharacteristics of the tomato parental inbred line of hybrid tomatoHMC44131 to produce selected backcross progeny plants. In someembodiments, the process further comprises (e) repeating steps (c) and(d) one, two, three, four, five six, seven, eight, nine or more times insuccession to produce selected, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth,seventh, eighth, ninth or higher backcross progeny plants that have thedesired trait(s) and essentially all of the characteristics of theparental inbred tomato line of hybrid tomato HMC44131, and/or have thedesired trait(s) and essentially all of the physiological andmorphological characteristics of the parental tomato inbred line ofhybrid tomato HMC44131, and/or have the desired trait(s) and otherwiseessentially all of the physiological and morphological characteristicsof the parental inbred tomato line of tomato hybrid HMC44131, includingbut not limited to when grown in the same environmental conditions orincluding but not limited to at a 5% significance level when grown inthe same environmental conditions. The tomato plants or seed produced bythe methods are also part of the disclosure, as are the hybrid tomatoHMC44131 plants that comprised the desired trait. Backcrossing breedingmethods, well known to one skilled in the art of plant breeding will befurther developed in subsequent parts of the specification.

An embodiment of this disclosure is a method of making a backcrossconversion of hybrid tomato HMC44131. In some embodiments, the methodcomprises crossing one of the parental tomato inbred line plants ofhybrid tomato HMC44131 with a donor plant comprising a mutant gene(s), anaturally occurring gene(s) or a gene(s) and/or sequence(s) modifiedthrough New Breeding Techniques conferring one or more desired traits toproduce F₁ progeny plants. In some embodiments, the method furthercomprises selecting an F₁ progeny plant comprising the naturallyoccurring gene(s), mutant gene(s) or gene(s) and/or sequences(s)modified through New Breeding Techniques conferring the one or moredesired traits. In some embodiments, the method further comprisesbackcrossing the selected progeny plant to the parental tomato inbredline plants of hybrid tomato HMC44131. This method may further comprisethe step of obtaining a molecular marker profile of the parental tomatoinbred line plants of hybrid tomato HMC44131 and using the molecularmarker profile to select for the progeny plant with the desired traitand the molecular marker profile of the parental tomato inbred lineplants of hybrid tomato HMC44131. In some embodiments, this methodfurther comprises crossing the backcross progeny plant of the parentaltomato inbred line plant of hybrid tomato HMC44131 containing thenaturally occurring gene(s), the mutant gene(s) or the modified gene(s)and/or sequences modified through New Breeding Techniques conferring theone or more desired traits with the second parental inbred tomato lineplants of hybrid tomato HMC44131 in order to produce the hybrid tomatoHMC44131 comprising the naturally occurring gene(s), the mutant gene(s)or modified gene(s) and/or sequences modified through New BreedingTechniques conferring the one or more desired traits. The plants orparts thereof produced by such methods are also part of the presentdisclosure.

In some embodiments of the disclosure, the number of loci that may betransferred and/or backcrossed into the parental tomato inbred line ofhybrid tomato HMC44131 is at least 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or more.

A single locus may contain several genes. A single locus conversion alsoallows for making one or more site specific changes to the plant genome,such as, without limitation, one or more nucleotide changes, deletions,insertions, substitutions, etc. In some embodiments, the single locusconversion is performed by genome editing, a.k.a. genome editing withengineered nucleases (GEEN). In some embodiments, the genome editingcomprises using one or more engineered nucleases. In some embodiments,the engineered nucleases include, but are not limited to Zinc fingernucleases (ZFNs), Transcription Activator-Like Effector Nucleases(TALENs), the CRISPR/Cas system, engineered meganuclease, re-engineeredhoming endonucleases and endonucleases for DNA guided genome editing(Gao et al., Nature Biotechnology (2016), doi: 10.1038/nbt.3547). Insome embodiments, the single locus conversion changes one or severalnucleotides of the plant genome. Such genome editing techniques are someof the techniques now known by the person skilled in the art and hereinare collectively referred to as “New Breeding Techniques”. In someembodiments, one or more above-mentioned genome editing methods aredirectly applied on a plant of the present disclosure, rather than onthe parental tomato inbred lines of hybrid tomato HMC44131. Accordingly,a cell containing an edited genome, or a plant part containing such cellcan be isolated and used to regenerate a novel plant which has a newtrait conferred by said genome editing, and essentially all of thephysiological and morphological characteristics of hybrid tomato plantHMC44131.

The disclosure further provides methods for developing tomato plants ina tomato plant breeding program using plant breeding techniquesincluding but not limited to, recurrent selection, backcrossing,pedigree breeding, genomic selection, molecular marker (IsozymeElectrophoresis, Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphisms (RFLPs),Randomly Amplified Polymorphic DNAs (RAPDs), Arbitrarily PrimedPolymerase Chain Reactions (AP-PCRs), DNA Amplification Fingerprintings(DAFs), Sequence Characterized Amplified Regions (SCARs), AmplifiedFragment Length Polymorphisms (AFLPs), and Simple Sequence Repeats(SSRs) which are also referred to as Microsatellites, Single NucleotidePolymorphisms (SNPs), enhanced selection, genetic markers, enhancedselection and transformation. Seeds, tomato plants, and parts thereofproduced by such breeding methods are also part of the disclosure.

The disclosure also relates to variants, mutants and trivialmodifications of the seed or plant of the hybrid tomato HMC44131 orinbred parental lines thereof. Variants, mutants and trivialmodifications of the seed or plant of hybrid tomato HMC44131 or inbredparental lines thereof can be generated by methods available to oneskilled in the art, including but not limited to, mutagenesis (e.g.,chemical mutagenesis, radiation mutagenesis, transposon mutagenesis,insertional mutagenesis, signature tagged mutagenesis, site-directedmutagenesis, and natural mutagenesis), knock-outs/knock-ins, antisenseoligonucleotides, RNA interference and other techniques such as the NewBreeding Techniques. For more information of mutagenesis in plants, suchas agents or protocols, see Acquaah et al. (Principles of plant geneticsand breeding, Wiley-Blackwell, 2007, ISBN 1405136464, 9781405136464,which is herein incorporated by reference in its entity).

The disclosure also relates to a mutagenized population of the hybridtomato HMC44131 and methods of using such populations. In someembodiments, the mutagenized population can be used in screening for newtomato plants which comprise essentially one or more of or all themorphological and physiological characteristics of hybrid tomatoHMC44131. In some embodiments, the new tomato plants obtained from thescreening process comprise essentially all of the morphological andphysiological characteristics of the hybrid tomato HMC44131, and one ormore additional or different morphological and physiologicalcharacteristics that the hybrid tomato HMC44131 does not have.

This disclosure is also directed to methods for producing a tomato plantby crossing a first parent tomato plant with a second parent tomatoplant, wherein either the first or second parent tomato plant is ahybrid tomato plant of HMC44131. Further, both first and second parenttomato plants can come from the hybrid tomato plant HMC44131. Further,the hybrid tomato plant HMC44131 can be self-pollinated i.e. the pollenof a hybrid tomato plant HMC44131 can pollinate the ovule of the samehybrid tomato plant HMC44131. When crossed with another tomato plant, ahybrid seed is produced. Such methods of hybridization andself-pollination are well known to those skilled in the art of breeding.

An inbred tomato line such as one of the parental lines of hybrid tomatoHMC44131 has been produced through several cycles of self-pollinationand is therefore to be considered as a homozygous line. An inbred linecan also be produced though the dihaploid system which involves doublingthe chromosomes from a haploid plant or embryo thus resulting in aninbred line that is genetically stable (homozygous) and can bereproduced without altering the inbred line. Haploid plants could beobtained from haploid embryos that might be produced from microspores,pollen, anther cultures or ovary cultures or spontaneous haploidy. Thehaploid embryos may then be doubled by chemical treatments such as bycolchicine or be doubled autonomously. The haploid embryos may also begrown into haploid plants and treated to induce the chromosome doubling.In either case, fertile homozygous plants may be obtained. A hybridvariety is classically created through the fertilization of an ovulefrom an inbred parental line by the pollen of another, different inbredparental line. Due to the homozygous state of the inbred line, theproduced gametes carry a copy of each parental chromosome. As both theovule and the pollen bring a copy of the arrangement and organization ofthe genes present in the parental lines, the genome of each parentalline is present in the resulting F₁ hybrid, theoretically in thearrangement and organization created by the plant breeder in theoriginal parental line.

As long as the homozygosity of the parental lines is maintained, theresulting hybrid cross shall be stable. The F₁ hybrid is then acombination of phenotypic characteristics issued from two arrangementand organization of genes, both created by a person skilled in the artthrough the breeding process.

Still further, this disclosure is also directed to methods for producinga tomato plant derived from hybrid tomato HMC44131 by crossing hybridtomato plant HMC44131 with a second tomato plant. In some embodiments,the methods further comprise obtaining a progeny seed from the cross. Insome embodiments, the methods further comprise growing the progeny seed,and possibly repeating the crossing and growing steps with the hybridtomato plant HMC44131 derived plant from 0 to 7 or more times. Thus, anysuch methods using the hybrid tomato plant HMC44131 are part of thisdisclosure: selfing, backcrosses, hybrid production, crosses topopulations, and the like. All plants produced using hybrid tomato plantHMC44131 as a parent are within the scope of this disclosure, includingplants derived from hybrid tomato plant HMC44131. In some embodiments,such plants have one, more than one or all of the physiological andmorphological characteristics of the hybrid tomato plant HMC44131 listedin Table 1 including but not limited to as determined at the 5%significance level when grown in the same environmental conditions. Insome embodiments, such plants might exhibit additional and desiredcharacteristics or traits such as high seed yield, high seedgermination, seedling vigor, early maturity, high fruit yield, ease offruit setting, disease tolerance or resistance, lodging resistance, andadaptability for soil and climate conditions. Consumer-driven traits,such as a preference for a given fruit size, fruit shape, fruit color,fruit texture, fruit taste, fruit firmness, fruit sugar content areother traits that may be incorporated into new tomato plants developedby this disclosure.

A tomato plant can also be propagated vegetatively. A part of the plant,for example a shoot tissue, is collected, and a new plant is obtainedfrom the part. Such part typically comprises an apical meristem of theplant. The collected part is transferred to a medium allowingdevelopment of a plantlet, including for example rooting or developmentof shoots, or is grafted onto a tomato plant or a rootstock prepared tosupport growth of shoot tissue. This is achieved using methods wellknown in the art. Accordingly, in one embodiment, a method ofvegetatively propagating a plant of the present disclosure comprisescollecting a part of a plant according to the present disclosure, e.g. ashoot tissue, and obtaining a plantlet from said part. In oneembodiment, a method of vegetatively propagating a plant of the presentdisclosure comprises: (a) collecting tissue of a plant of the presentdisclosure; (b) rooting said proliferated shoots to obtain rootedplantlets. In one embodiment, a method of vegetatively propagating aplant of the present disclosure comprises: (a) collecting tissue of aplant of the present disclosure; (b) cultivating said tissue to obtainproliferated shoots; (c) rooting said proliferated shoots to obtainrooted plantlets. In one embodiment, such method further comprisesgrowing a plant from said plantlets. In one embodiment, a fruit isharvested from said plant. In one embodiment, such fruits and plantshave all of the physiological and morphological characteristics offruits and plants of hybrid tomato designated HMC44131 when grown in thesame environmental conditions. In one embodiment, the fruit is processedinto products such as canned tomato fruits and/or parts thereof, juices,freeze dried or frozen fruit and/or parts thereof, fresh or preparedfruit and/or parts thereof or pastes, sauces, purees, catsups and thelike.

The disclosure is also directed to the use of the hybrid tomato plantHMC44131 in a grafting process. In one embodiment, the hybrid tomatoplant HMC44131 is used as the scion while in another embodiment, thehybrid tomato plant HMC44131 is used as a rootstock.

In some embodiments, the present disclosure teaches a seed of hybridtomato designated HMC44131, wherein a representative sample of seed ofsaid hybrid is deposited under NCIMB No. ______.

In some embodiments, the present disclosure teaches a tomato plant, or apart thereof, produced by growing the deposited HMC44131 seed.

In some embodiments, the present disclosure teaches a tomato plant part,wherein the tomato part is selected from the group consisting of: aleaf, a flower, a fruit, a stalk, a root, a rootstock, a seed, anembryo, a peduncle, a stamen, an anther, a pistil, an ovule, a pollen, acell, a rootstock, and a scion.

In some embodiments, the present disclosure teaches a tomato plant, or apart thereof, having all the characteristics of hybrid tomato HMC44131as listed in Table 1 of this disclosure including but not limited to asdetermined at the 5% significance level when grown in the sameenvironmental conditions.

In some embodiments, the present disclosure teaches a tomato plant, or apart thereof, having all of the physiological and morphologicalcharacteristics of hybrid tomato HMC44131, wherein a representativesample of seed of said hybrid was deposited under NCIMB No. ______.

In some embodiments, the present disclosure teaches a tissue culture ofregenerable cells produced from the plant or part grown from thedeposited HMC44131 seed, wherein cells of the tissue culture areproduced from a plant part selected from the group consisting ofprotoplasts, embryos, meristematic cells, callus, pollens, ovules,flowers, seeds, leaves, roots, root tips, anthers, stems, petioles,fruits, axillary buds, cotyledons and hypocotyls. In some embodiments,the plant part includes protoplasts produced from a plant grown from thedeposited HMC44131 seed.

In some embodiments, the present disclosure teaches a compositioncomprising regenerable cells produced from the plant or part thereofgrown from the deposited hybrid HMC44131 seed, or other part or cellthereof. In some embodiments, the composition further comprises a growthmedia. In some embodiments, the growth media is solid or a syntheticcultivation medium. In some embodiments, the composition is a tomatoplant regenerated from the tissue culture from a plant grown from thedeposited HMC44131 seed, said plant having all of the characteristics ofhybrid tomato HMC44131, wherein a representative sample of seed of saidhybrid is deposited under NCIMB No. ______.

In some embodiments, the present disclosure teaches a tomato fruitproduced from the plant grown from the deposited HMC44131 seed.

In some embodiments, such fruits have all of the physiological andmorphological characteristics of hybrid tomato designated HMC44131fruits when grown in the same environmental conditions.

In some embodiments, methods of producing said tomato fruit comprise (a)growing the tomato plant from deposited HMC44131 seed to produce atomato fruit, and (b) harvesting said tomato fruit. In some embodiments,the present disclosure also teaches a tomato fruit produced by themethod of producing tomato fruit and/or seed as described above. In someembodiments, such fruits have all of the physiological and morphologicalcharacteristics of fruits of hybrid tomato designated HMC44131 (e.g.those listed in Table 1) when grown in the same environmentalconditions.

In some embodiments, the present disclosure teaches methods forproducing a tomato seed comprising crossing a first parent tomato plantwith a second parent tomato plant and harvesting the resultant tomatoseed, wherein said first parent tomato plant and/or second parent tomatoplant is the tomato plant produced from the deposited HMC44131 seed or atomato plant having all the characteristics of hybrid tomato HMC44131 aslisted in Table 1 including but not limited to as determined at the 5%significance level when grown in the same environmental conditions.

In some embodiments, the present disclosure teaches methods forproducing a tomato seed comprising self-pollinating the tomato plantgrown from the deposited HMC44131 seed and harvesting the resultanttomato seed.

In some embodiments, the present disclosure teaches the seed produced byany of the above described methods.

In some embodiments, the present disclosure teaches methods ofvegetatively propagating the tomato plant grown from the depositedHMC44131 seed, said method comprising collecting a part of a plant grownfrom the deposited HMC44131 seed and regenerating a plant from saidpart.

In some embodiments, the method further comprises harvesting fruitsand/or seeds from said vegetatively propagated plant. In someembodiments, the method further comprises harvesting a fruit from saidvegetatively propagated plant.

In some embodiments, the present disclosure teaches the plant and thefruits and/or seeds of plants vegetatively propagated from parts ofplants grown from the deposited HMC44131 seed. In some embodiments, suchplant, fruits and/or seeds have all of the physiological andmorphological characteristics of plant, fruits and/or seeds of hybridtomato HMC44131 (e.g. those listed in Table 1) when grown in the sameenvironmental conditions.

In some embodiments, the present disclosure teaches methods of producinga tomato plant derived from the hybrid tomato HMC44131. In someembodiment, the methods comprise (a) self-pollinating the plant grownfrom the deposited HMC44131 seed at least once to produce a progenyplant derived from tomato hybrid HMC44131. In some embodiments, themethod further comprises (b) crossing the progeny plant derived fromtomato hybrid HMC44131 with itself or a second tomato plant to produce aseed of a progeny plant of a subsequent generation; and; (c) growing theprogeny plant of the subsequent generation from the seed, and (d)crossing the progeny plant of the subsequent generation with itself or asecond tomato plant to produce a tomato plant derived from the hybridtomato variety HMC44131. In some embodiments said methods furthercomprise the step of: (e) repeating steps (b), (c) and/or (d) for atleast 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, or more generation to produce a tomato plantderived from the hybrid tomato variety HMC44131.

In some embodiments, the present disclosure teaches methods of producinga tomato plant derived from the hybrid tomato HMC44131, the methodscomprising (a) crossing the plant grown from the deposited HMC44131 seedwith a second tomato plant to produce a progeny plant derived fromhybrid tomato HMC44131. In some embodiments, the method furthercomprises; (b) crossing the progeny plant derived from hybrid tomatoHMC44131 with itself or a second tomato plant to produce a seed of aprogeny plant of a subsequent generation; and; (c) growing the progenyplant of the subsequent generation from the seed; (d) crossing theprogeny plant of the subsequent generation with itself or a secondtomato plant to produce a tomato plant derived from the hybrid tomatovariety HMC44131. In some embodiments said methods further comprise thesteps of: (e) repeating steps (b), (c) and/or (d) for at least 1, 2, 3,4, 5, 6, 7 or more generations to produce a tomato plant derived fromthe hybrid tomato variety HMC44131.

In some embodiments, the present disclosure teaches plants grown fromthe deposited HMC44131 seed wherein said plants comprise a single locusconversion. As used herein, the term “a” or “an” refers to one or moreof that entity; for example, “a single locus conversion” refers to oneor more single locus conversions or at least one single locusconversion. As such, the terms “a” (or “an”), “one or more” and “atleast one” are used interchangeably herein. In addition, reference to“an element” by the indefinite article “a” or “an” does not exclude thepossibility that more than one of the elements are present, unless thecontext clearly requires that there is one and only one of the elements.

In some embodiments, the present disclosure teaches a method ofproducing a plant of hybrid tomato designated HMC44131 comprising atleast one desired trait, the method comprising introducing a singlelocus conversion conferring the desired trait into hybrid tomatodesignated HMC44131, whereby a plant of hybrid tomato designatedHMC44131 comprising the desired trait is produced.

In some embodiments, the present disclosure teaches a tomato plant,comprising a single locus conversion and essentially all of thecharacteristics of hybrid tomato designated HMC44131 listed in Table 1when grown under the same environmental conditions, wherein arepresentative sample of seed of said hybrid has been deposited underNCIMB No. ______. In other embodiments, the single locus conversion isintroduced into the plant by the use of recurrent selection, mutationbreeding, wherein said mutation breeding selects for a mutation that isspontaneous or artificially induced, backcrossing, pedigree breeding,haploid/double haploid production, marker-assisted selection, genetictransformation, genomic selection, Zinc finger nuclease (ZFN)technology, oligonucleotide directed mutagenesis, cisgenesis,intragenesis, RNA-dependent DNA methylation, agro-infiltration,Transcription Activation-Like Effector Nuclease (TALENs), CRISPR/Cassystem, engineered meganuclease, re-engineered homing endonuclease, andDNA guided genome editing.

In some embodiments, the plant comprises 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10,or more single locus conversions. In some embodiments, the plantcomprises no more than 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, or 10 single locusconversions, but essentially all of the other physiological andmorphological characteristics of hybrid tomato plant HMC44131 listed inTable 1. In some embodiments, the plant comprises at least one singlelocus conversion and essentially all of the physiological andmorphological characteristics of hybrid tomato plant HMC44131 listed inTable 1. In other embodiments, the plant comprises one single locusconversion and essentially all of the other physiological andmorphological characteristics of hybrid tomato plant HMC44131 listed inTable 1.

In some embodiments, said single locus conversion confers said plantswith a trait selected from the group consisting of male sterility, malefertility, herbicide resistance, insect resistance, resistance forbacterial, fungal, mycoplasma or viral disease, enhanced plant qualitysuch as improved drought or salt tolerance, water stress tolerance,improved standability, enhanced plant vigor, improved shelf life,delayed senescence or controlled ripening, increased nutritional qualitysuch as increased sugar content or increased sweetness, increasedtexture, flavor and aroma, improved fruit length and/or size, protectionfor color, fruit shape, uniformity, length or diameter, refinement ordepth lodging resistance, yield and recovery when compared to a suitablecheck/comparison plant. In further embodiments, the single locusconversion confers said plant with herbicide resistance.

In some embodiments, the check plant is a hybrid tomato HMC44131 nothaving said single locus conversion conferring the desired trait(s). Insome embodiments, the at least one single locus conversion is anartificially mutated gene or a gene or nucleotide sequence modifiedthrough the use of New Breeding Techniques.

In some embodiments, the present disclosure teaches methods of producinga tomato plant, comprising grafting a rootstock or a scion of the hybridtomato plant grown from the deposited HMC44131 seed to another tomatoplant. In some embodiments, the present disclosure teaches methods forproducing nucleic acids, comprising isolating nucleic acids from theplant grown from the deposited HMC44131 seed, or a part, or a cellthereof. In some embodiments, the present disclosure teaches methods forproducing a second tomato plant, comprising applying plant breedingtechniques to the plant grown from the deposited HMC44131 seed, or partthereof to produce the second tomato plant.

In some embodiments, the present disclosure provides a method ofproducing a commodity plant product comprising collecting the commodityplant product from the plant of the present disclosure. The commodityplant product produced by said method is also part of the presentdisclosure.

In addition to the exemplary aspects and embodiments described above,further aspects and embodiments will become apparent by study of thefollowing descriptions.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DISCLOSURE Definitions

In the description and tables that follow, a number of terms are used.In order to provide a clear and consistent understanding of thespecification and claims, including the scope to be given such terms,the following definitions are provided:

Abscission zone: This is the zone of abscission or area of separation ofthe leaves, flowers, and fruits from the plant. For flower abscission,the resulting zone (or blossom scar) ranges in size, small beingpreferred over large—range small (<10 mm), medium (10-15 mm), large(15-20 mm), very large (>20 mm).

Adaptability: A plant that has adaptability is a plant able to grow wellin different growing conditions (climate, soils, etc.).

Allele: An allele is a variant form of a gene or locus.

Androecious plant: A plant having staminate flowers only.

Backcrossing: Backcrossing is a process in which a breeder repeatedlycrosses hybrid progeny back to one of the parents, for example, afirst-generation hybrid F₁ with one of the parental genotypes of the F₁hybrid.

Blossom scar: This is the remnant scar from the stigmatic surface of theblossom. There is a very broad range in sizes, small is better. Range issmall (<10 mm), medium (10-20 mm), large (20-40 mm) and very large (>40mm).

Blotchy: Abnormal coloration characterized by the presence of greenareas on the surface of red ripe fruit and sub-surface brown areasassociated with the sub-epidermal cell layers. Variations in light,water and temperature as well as nutritional disorders can causeirregular maturity and blotchy color.

Cavity: As used herein, cavity refers to the center of the tomato fruitcontaining seeds and maternal tissues. Cavity measurements are made on asingle fruit or recorded as an average of many fruit at harvest maturityand recorded in a convenient unit of measure. Cavity ratings: 1=verypoor (non-marketable), 3=poor (non-marketable), 5=average (marketable)7=very good (much better than industry standards), 9=superior (furtherimprovement not attainable). Cavity evaluations are done based on acombination of the cavity size and the degree of open space in thecavity. Very poor would be open and very large; superior would be verysmall and closed.

Cavity to Diameter ratio: Cavity to Diameter ratio is a measure of thecavity size compared to the overall fruit size of a single fruit or theaverage of many fruit at harvest maturity and recorded in a convenientunit of measure.

Commodity plant product: A “commodity plant product” refers to anycomposition or product that is comprised of material derived from aplant, seed, plant cell, or plant part of the present disclosure.Commodity plant products may be sold to consumers and can be viable ornonviable. Nonviable commodity products include but are not limited tononviable seeds and grains; processed seeds, seed parts, and plantparts; dehydrated plant tissue, frozen plant tissue, and processed planttissue; seeds and plant parts processed for animal feed for terrestrialand/or aquatic animal consumption, oil, meal, flour, flakes, bran,fiber, paper, tea, coffee, silage, crushed of whole grain, and any otherfood for human or animal consumption; biomasses and fuel products; andraw material in industry.

Collection of seeds: In the context of the present disclosure acollection of seeds is a grouping of seeds mainly containing similarkind of seeds, for example hybrid seeds of the disclosure, but that mayalso contain, mixed together with this first kind of seeds, a second,different kind of seeds, of one of the inbred parent lines. A commercialbag of hybrid seeds of the disclosure and containing also the inbredparental line seeds would be, for example such a collection of seeds.

Cracking: a physiological disorder characterized by the appearance ofrough corky surface cracks in the tomato fruit caused by sub-surfacecuticle cells bursting and russeting. Cracking is a commercial defectthat generally makes the fruit unmarketable.

Determinate tomatoes: Determinate tomatoes are tomato varieties thatcome to fruit all at once, then stop bearing. They are best suited forcommercial growing and mechanical harvesting since they can be harvestedall at once.

Decreased vigor: A plant having a decreased vigor in the presentdisclosure is a plant that, compared to other plants has a less vigorousappearance for vegetative and/or reproductive characteristics including,for example shorter plant height, smaller fruit size, fewer fruit orother characteristics.

Earliness: The earliness relates the number of fruits produced from 12to 15 days following the beginning of the harvest: the more fruitsproduced, the more earliness of the plant

Easy to pick fruit: A fruit that is easy to pick is a fruit that easilydetaches from the plant. Once grabbed and twisted, the fruit will breakbetween the peduncle and the stem. For fruits not easy to pick, thepeduncle breaks off the fruits. A fruit that is easy to pick is also afruit that is easily accessible for harvest. When plants have an openplant habit, the fruits are harvested more easily than when the plantshave closed habit.

Enhanced nutritional quality: The nutritional quality of the tomato ofthe present disclosure can be enhanced by the introduction of severaltraits comprising a higher endosperm sugar content, flesh texture, brix,aroma content and increased sweetness, increased lycopene content of thepeel, etc.

Essentially all of the physiological and morphological characteristics:A plant having essentially all of the physiological and morphologicalcharacteristics means a plant having all of the physiological andmorphological characteristics of a plant of the present disclosure,except for example, additional traits and/or mutations which do notmaterially affect the plant of the present disclosure, or, a desiredcharacteristic(s), which can be indirectly obtained from another plantpossessing at least one single locus conversion via a conventionalbreeding program (such as backcross breeding) or directly obtained byintroduction of at least one single locus conversion via New BreedingTechniques. In some embodiments, one of the non-limiting examples for aplant having (and/or comprising) essentially all of the physiologicaland morphological characteristics shall be a plant having all of thephysiological and morphological characteristics of a plant of thepresent disclosure other than desired, additionaltrait(s)/characteristic(s) conferred by a single locus conversionincluding, but not limited to, a converted or modified gene.

Extended harvest: An extended harvest is a plant that produces fruitsthroughout the harvest season.

Flesh color: In the context of the present disclosure, the flesh coloris the color of the tomato flesh. Field holding ability: Field holdingability is the ability for fruit quality to maintain even after fruit isripe.

Firm Fruit Exterior. Fruit Firmness subjectively tested under fieldconditions for resistance of fruit exterior against a given pressure.Range is soft, medium, firm and very firm and hard shell.

Grafting: Grafting is the operation by which a rootstock is grafted witha scion. The primary motive for grafting is to avoid damages bysoil-born pest and pathogens when genetic or chemical approaches fordisease management are not available. Grafting a susceptible scion ontoa resistant rootstock can provide a resistant cultivar without the needto breed the resistance into the cultivar. In addition, grafting mayenhance tolerance to abiotic stress, increase yield and result in moreefficient water and nutrient uses.

Good Seed Producer: A plant is a good seed producer when it producesnumerous seeds. For tomato, a good seed producing plant will produce anaverage of 20 grams of seeds during the harvest season.

Gynoecious plant: A plant having pistillate flowers only.

Immunity to disease(s) and or insect(s): A tomato plant which is notsubject to attack or infection by specific disease(s) and or insect(s)is considered immune.

Industrial usage: The industrial usage of the tomato of the presentdisclosure comprises the use of the tomato fruit for consumption,whether as fresh products or in canning, freezing or any otherindustries.

Intermediate resistance to disease(s) and or insect(s): A tomato plantthat restricts the growth and development of specific disease(s) and orinsect(s), but may exhibit a greater range of symptoms or damagecompared to a resistant plant. Intermediate resistant plants willusually show less severe symptoms or damage than susceptible plantvarieties when grown under similar environmental conditions and/orspecific disease(s) and or insect(s) pressure, but may have heavy damageunder heavy pressure. Intermediate resistant tomato plants are notimmune to the disease(s) and or insect(s).

Maturity: In the region of best adaptability, maturity is the number ofdays from transplanting to optimal time for fruit harvest.

Large plant: A large plant has long internodes with a plant height of 75cm and above. It depends on how the plant spreads out horizontally orvertically.

Monecious: The term used to describe a plant variety where each flowerexhibits only one sexual character (either male or female) and eachplant has flowers of both sexes.

New Breeding Techniques: New breeding techniques (NBTs) are said ofvarious new technologies developed and/or used to create newcharacteristics in plants through genetic variation, the aim beingtargeted mutagenesis, targeted introduction of new genes or genesilencing (RdDM). The following breeding techniques are within the scopeof NBTs: targeted sequence changes facilitated through the use of Zincfinger nuclease (ZFN) technology (ZFN-1, ZFN-2 and ZFN-3, see U.S. Pat.No. 9,145,565, incorporated by reference in its entirety),Oligonucleotide directed mutagenesis (ODM, a.k.a., site-directedmutagenesis), Cisgenesis and intragenesis, epigenetic approaches such asRNA-dependent DNA methylation (RdDM, which does not necessarily changenucleotide sequence but can change the biological activity of thesequence), Grafting (on GM rootstock), Reverse breeding,Agro-infiltration for transient gene expression (agro-infiltration“sensu stricto”, agro-inoculation, floral dip), TranscriptionActivator-Like Effector Nucleases (TALENs, see U.S. Pat. Nos. 8,586,363and 9,181,535, incorporated by reference in their entireties), theCRISPR/Cas system (see U.S. Pat. Nos. 8,697,359; 8,771,945; 8,795,965;8,865,406; 8,871,445; 8,889,356; 8,895,308; 8,906,616; 8,932,814;8,945,839; 8,993,233; and 8,999,641, which are all hereby incorporatedby reference), engineered meganuclease, re-engineered homingendonucleases, DNA guided genome editing (Gao et al., NatureBiotechnology (2016), doi: 10.1038/nbt.3547, incorporated by referencein its entirety), and Synthetic genomics. A major part of today'stargeted genome editing, another designation for New BreedingTechniques, is the applications to induce a DNA double strand break(DSB) at a selected location in the genome where the modification isintended. Directed repair of the DSB allows for targeted genome editing.Such applications can be utilized to generate mutations (e.g., targetedmutations or precise native gene editing) as well as precise insertionof genes (e.g., cisgenes, intragenes, or transgenes). The applicationsleading to mutations are often identified as site-directed nuclease(SDN) technology, such as SDN1, SDN2 and SDN3. For SDN1, the outcome isa targeted, non-specific genetic deletion mutation: the position of theDNA DSB is precisely selected, but the DNA repair by the host cell israndom and results in small nucleotide deletions, additions orsubstitutions. For SDN2, a SDN is used to generate a targeted DSB and aDNA repair template (a short DNA sequence identical to the targeted DSBDNA sequence except for one or a few nucleotide changes) is used torepair the DSB: this results in a targeted and predetermined pointmutation in the desired gene of interest. As to the SDN3, the SDN isused along with a DNA repair template that contains new DNA sequence(e.g. gene). The outcome of the technology would be the integration ofthat DNA sequence into the plant genome. The most likely applicationillustrating the use of SDN3 would be the insertion of cisgenic,intragenic, or transgenic expression cassettes at a selected genomelocation. A complete description of each of these techniques can befound in the report made by the Joint Research Center (JRC) Institutefor Prospective Technological Studies of the European Commission in 2011and titled “New plant breeding techniques—State-of-the-art and prospectsfor commercial development”, which is incorporated by reference in itsentirety.

Number of Boxes per Acre: The Number of Boxes per Acre—6's, 9's, 12's,15's, 18's or 23's refers to the number of fruit that fit into astandard tomato box.

Open Plant Habit: An open plant habit is a plant where the fruits arevisible without moving the leaves. A plant with closed habit will haveits fruit hidden by leaves that have a high density. An average openplant habit will be between the open and closed habit, and the plantwill have medium leaf density. Whether a plant has open habit or closedhabit is based on the whole of the plant. The more erect the plant, themore compact and therefore the closer the habit. In contrast, when theplant is lodging, sprawling on the ground, it leads to a less compactplant, therefore more “open”.

Overall Rating: A final or Overall Rating is assigned to varietyperformance or a varieties characteristic in test or trial situations ofa variety. Overall Rating can range from 1=very poor to 10 excellent.

Oval: Oval is used to describe fruit shape when the length is greaterthan the width and ranges from a slight oval, oval to heavy oval.

Plant adaptability: A plant having good plant adaptability means a plantthat will perform well in different growing conditions and seasons.

Plant cell: As used herein, the term “plant cell” includes plant cellswhether isolated, in tissue culture, or incorporated in a plant or plantpart.

Plant height: Plant height is taken from the top of the soil to the topof the plant leaf canopy and is measured in centimeters or inches.

Plant Part: As used herein, the term “plant part”, “part thereof” or“parts thereof” includes plant cells, plant protoplasts, plant celltissue cultures from which tomato plants can be regenerated, plantcalli, plant clumps and plant cells that are intact in plants or partsof plants, such as embryos, pollens, ovules, flowers, seeds, fruits,rootstocks, scions, stems, roots, anthers, pistils, root tips, leaves,meristematic cells, axillary buds, hypocotyls, cotyledons, ovaries, seedcoats, endosperms and the like. In some embodiments, the plant part atleast comprises at least one cell of said plant. In some embodiments,the plant part is further defined as a pollen, a meristem, a cell or anovule. In some embodiments, a plant regenerated from the plant part hasall of the phenotypic and morphological characteristics of a tomatohybrid of the present disclosure, including but not limited to asdetermined at the 5% significance level when grown in the sameenvironmental conditions.

Plant Habit: A plant can be an upright plant (also called erect)providing good coverage for the fruit or it can be open with a weakerhabit exposing the fruit

Predicted paste bostwick. The predicted paste bostwick is the calculatednumber with the brix and Bostwick reading using the following formula:Predicted paste bostwick=−11.53+(1.64*juice brix)+(0.5*juice bostwick).

Quantitative Trait Loci (QTL): Quantitative trait loci refer to geneticloci that control to some degree numerically representable traits thatare usually continuously distributed.

Regeneration: Regeneration refers to the development of a plant fromtissue culture.

Resistance to disease(s) and or insect(s): A tomato plant that restrictsthe growth and development of specific disease(s) and or insect(s) undernormal disease(s) and or insect(s) attack pressure when compared tosusceptible plants. These tomato plants can exhibit some symptoms ordamage under heavy disease(s) and or insect(s) pressure. Resistanttomato plants are not immune to the disease(s) and or insect(s).

Rootstock: A rootstock is the lower part of a plant capable of receivinga scion in a grafting process.

RHS: RHS refers to the Royal Horticultural Society of England whichpublishes an official botanical color chart quantitatively identifyingcolors according to a defined numbering system. The chart may bepurchased from Royal Hort. Society Enterprise Ltd. RHS Garden; Wisley,Woking, Surrey GU236QB, UK.

Scion: A scion is the higher part of a plant capable of being graftedonto a rootstock in a grafting process.

Relative maturity or maturity: Maturity is considered the date of theonset of harvest and is classified as Very Early, Early, Mid Early, Mainand Late or specified by recording the date of the onset of harvest. Inthe region of best adaptability, maturity is the number of days fromtransplanting to optimal time for fruit harvest. In this region, amid-early maturity plant is a plant that is harvested approximately 50days after sowing. An early maturity plant would have 45 days fromplanting to harvest while a late maturity plant will have 55 days untilharvest.

Semi-erect habit: A semi-erect plant has a combination of lateral andupright branching and has an intermediate type habit between a prostateplant habit, having laterally growing branching with fruits most of thetime on the ground and an erect plant habit with branching goingstraight up with fruit being off the ground.

Fruit shape: Refers to external fruit shape. Range is Flat Round, Round,round oval, oval, elongate.

Single locus converted (conversion): Single locus converted (conversion)plants refer to plants which are developed by a plant breeding techniquecalled backcrossing, wherein essentially all of the desiredmorphological and physiological characteristics of a plant are recoveredin addition to a single locus transferred into the plant via thebackcrossing technique or via genetic engineering. A single locusconverted plant can also be referred to a plant with a single locusconversion obtained though simultaneous and/or artificially inducedmutagenesis or through the use of New Breeding Techniques described inthe present disclosure. In some embodiments, the single locus convertedplant has essentially all of the desired morphological and physiologicalcharacteristics of the original variety in addition to a single locusconverted by spontaneous and/or artificially induced mutations, which isintroduced and/or transferred into the plant by the plant breedingtechniques such as backcrossing. In other embodiments, the single locusconverted plant has essentially all of the desired morphological andphysiological characteristics of the original variety in addition to asingle locus, gene or nucleotide sequence(s) converted, mutated,modified or engineered through the New Breeding Techniques taughtherein. In the present disclosure, single locus converted (conversion)can be interchangeably referred to single gene converted (conversion).

Soluble Solids: Soluble solids refer to the percent of solid materialfound in the fruit tissue, the vast majority of which are sugars.Soluble solids are estimated with a refractometer and measured asdegrees Brix. Soluble Solids vary with environment. For example, forCalifornia summer growing conditions the following range would apply.Very high (>12.5%), high (11.5-12.5%), medium (10.5-11.5%), low<10.5%).

Susceptible to disease(s) and or insect(s): A tomato plant that issusceptible to disease(s) and or insect(s) is defined as a tomato plantthat has the inability to restrict the growth and development ofspecific disease(s) and or insect(s). Plants that are susceptible willshow damage when infected and are more likely to have heavy damage undermoderate levels of specific disease(s) and or insect(s).

Tolerance to abiotic stresses: A tomato plant that is tolerant toabiotic stresses has the ability to endure abiotic stress withoutserious consequences for growth, appearance and yield.

Uniformity: Uniformity, as used herein, describes the similarity betweenplants or plant characteristics which can be a described by qualitativeor quantitative measurements.

Variety: A plant variety as used by one skilled in the art of plantbreeding means a plant grouping within a single botanical taxon of thelowest known rank which can be defined by the expression of thecharacteristics resulting from a given genotype or combination ofphenotypes, distinguished from any other plant grouping by theexpression of at least one of the said characteristics and considered asa unit with regard to its suitability for being propagated unchanged(International convention for the protection of new varieties ofplants). The term “variety” can be interchangeably used with “cultivar”or “hybrid in the present application”.

Yield (Tomato yield Tons/Acre). The yield in tons/acre is the actualyield of the tomato fruit at harvest.

Tomato Plants

Practically speaking, all cultivated forms of tomato belong to a speciesnow known as Solanum lycopersicum L. This was the originalclassification and is now considered correct and the former designation,Lycopersicon esculentum Miller, is widely used in older literature, butis no longer considered correct. Solanum is a genus within the extremelylarge and diverse family Solanaceae which is considered to consist ofaround 90 genera, including pepper, tobacco and eggplant. The genusLycopersicon has been divide into two subgenera, the esculentum complexwhich contains those species that can easily be crossed with thecommercial tomato and the peruvianum complex which contains thosespecies which are crossed with considerable difficulty (Stevens, M., andRick, C. M. 1986. Genetics and Breeding. In: The Tomato Crop. Ascientific basis for improvement, pp. 35-109. Atherton, J., Rudich, G.(eds.). Chapman and Hall, New York). Due to its value as a crop, L.esculentum Miller has become widely disseminated all over the world.Even if the precise origin of the cultivated tomato is still somewhatunclear, it seems to come from the Americas, being native to Ecuador,Peru and the Galapagos Island and initially cultivated by Aztecs andIncas as early as 700 AD. Mexico appears to have been the site ofdomestication and the source of the earliest introduction.

It is supposed that the cherry tomato, L. esculentum var. cerasiforme,is the direct ancestor of modern cultivated forms.

Tomato is grown for its fruit, widely used as a fresh market orprocessed product. As a crop, tomato is grown commercially whereverenvironmental conditions permit the production of an economically viableyield. In California, the first largest processing tomato market andsecond largest fresh market in the United States, processing tomato areharvested by machine. The majority of fresh market tomatoes areharvested by hand at vine ripe and mature green stage of ripeness. Freshmarket tomatoes are available in the United States year round.Processing tomato season in California is from late June to October.Processing tomato are used in many forms, as canned tomatoes, tomatojuice, tomato sauce, puree, paste or even catsup. Over the 500,000 acresof tomatoes that are grown annually in the US, approximately 40% aregrown for fresh market consumption, the balance are grown forprocessing.

Tomato is a normally simple diploid species with twelve pairs ofdifferentiated chromosomes. However, polyploidy tomato is also part ofthe present disclosure. The cultivated tomato is self-fertile and almostexclusively self-pollinating. The tomato flowers are hermaphrodites.Commercial cultivars were initially open pollinated. Most have now beenreplaced by better yielding hybrids. Due to its wide dissemination andhigh value, tomato has been intensively bred. This explains why such awide array of tomato is now available. The shape may range from small tolarge, and there are cherry, plum, pear, blocky, round, and beefsteaktypes. Tomatoes may be grouped by the amount of time it takes for theplants to mature fruit for harvest and, in general, the cultivars areconsidered to be early, midseason or late-maturing. Tomatoes can also begrouped by the plant's growth habit; determinate or indeterminate.Determinate plants tend to grow their foliage first, then set flowersthat mature into fruit if pollination is successful. All of the fruitstend to ripen on a plant at about the same time. Indeterminate tomatoesstart out by growing some foliage, then continue to produce foliage andflowers throughout the growing season. These plants will tend to havetomato fruit in different stages of maturity at any given time. Morerecent developments in tomato breeding have led to a wider array offruit color. In addition to the standard red ripe color, tomatoes can becreamy white, lime green, pink, yellow, golden, orange or purple.

Hybrid vigor has been documented in tomatoes and hybrids are gainingmore and more popularity amongst farmers with uniformity of plantcharacteristics.

Hybrid commercial tomato seed is produced by hand pollination. Pollen ofthe male parent is harvested and manually applied to the stigmaticsurface of the female inbred. Prior to and after hand pollination,flowers are covered so that insects do not bring foreign pollen andcreate a mix or impurity. Flowers are tagged to identify pollinatedfruit from which seed will be harvested.

There are numerous steps in the development of any novel, desirableplant germplasm. Plant breeding begins with the analysis and definitionof problems and weaknesses of the current germplasm, the establishmentof program goals, and the definition of specific breeding objectives.The next step is selection of germplasm that possesses the traits tomeet the program goals. The goal is to combine in a single variety orhybrid an improved combination of desirable traits from the parentalgermplasm.

In tomato, these important traits may include increased fruit number,fruit size and fruit weight, higher seed yield, improved color,resistance to diseases and insects, tolerance to drought and heat,better uniformity, higher nutritional value and better agronomicquality, growth rate, high seed germination, seedling vigor, early fruitmaturity, ease of fruit setting, adaptability for soil and climateconditions, firmness, content in soluble solids, acidity and viscosity.With mechanical harvesting of processing tomato, fruit settingconcentration, harvestability and field holding are also very important.

Particularly desirable traits that may be incorporated by thisdisclosure are improved resistance to different viral, fungal, andbacterial pathogens and improved resistance to insect pests. Importantdiseases include but are not limited to Tomato yellow leaf curl virus,Tomato spot wilt virus, etc. Improved resistance to insect pests isanother desirable trait that may be incorporated into new tomato plantsdeveloped by this disclosure. Insect pests affecting the various speciesof tomato include, but not limited to arthropod pests such as Tutaabsoluta, Frankliniella occidentalis, Bemisia tabaci, etc.

Other desirable traits include traits related to improved tomato fruits.A non-limiting list of fruit phenotypes used during breeding selectioninclude:

-   -   Average of juice bostwick. The juice Bostwick a measurement of        the viscosity. The viscosity or consistency of tomato products        is affected by the degree of concentration of the tomato, the        amount of and extent of degradation of pectin, the size, shape        and quality of the pulp, and probably to a lesser extent, by the        proteins, sugars and other soluble constituents. The viscosity        is measured in Bostwick centimeters by using instruments such as        a Bostwick Consistometer.    -   pH. The pH is a measure of acidity of the fruit puree. A pH        under 4.5 is desirable to prevent bacterial spoilage of finished        products. pH rises as fruit matures.    -   Fruit color. Fruit color is measured as Hunters a/b ratio, where        a represents red/green, positive values are red, negative values        are green and 0 is neutral; b represents yellow/blue, where        positive values are yellow, negative values are blue and 0 is        neutral; a/b represents the intense of redness: large value        represents deep red color, small value represents light or        yellowish red color.    -   Fruit Weight. The weight of a single fruit or the average of        many fruit measured at harvest maturity and recorded in a        convenient unit of measure.    -   Ostwald. The Ostwald is a measurement of serum viscosity whereas        the measurement are taken using an Ostwald viscometer. The serum        is the non-solid portion of a tomato extract after        centrifugation of the tomato puree. The serum viscosity is        affected by the quantity and quality of soluble pectin. Higher        number reflect higher viscosity of the tomato serum.    -   Fruit firmness. The fruit firmness is the resistance to        penetration and is measured using a Digital Durometer Model        DD-4-00 (Rex Gauge Company, Buffalo Grove, Ill., USA). Durometer        readings are taken at 4 locations (each about 90 degrees apart)        on the approximate mid-point of a tomato, with the tomato laying        on its side. From a fruit sample collected at a given location,        the resistance to penetration is measured with the durometer        from 9 individual fruit at 4 locations per fruit (a total of 36        independent measurements). The P5 value is calculated from the        following equation: D-39/10, where D is the value from the        Durometer.

Tomato Breeding

The goal of tomato breeding is to develop new, unique and superiortomato inbred lines and hybrids. The breeder initially selects andcrosses two or more parental lines, followed by repeated selfing andselection, producing many new genetic combinations. Another method usedto develop new, unique and superior tomato inbred lines and hybridsoccurs when the breeder selects and crosses two or more parental linesfollowed by haploid induction and chromosome doubling that result in thedevelopment of dihaploid inbred lines. The breeder can theoreticallygenerate billions of different genetic combinations via crossing,selfing and mutations and the same is true for the utilization of thedihaploid breeding method.

During the development of new tomato inbreds and hybrids, the tomatobreeder uses tomato plants, but also non-commercial tomato plants, suchas plants that may contain characteristics that the breeder has interestin having in its tomato inbreds and hybrids. Such non-commercial tomatoplants could be wild relatives of tomato species.

Each year, the plant breeder selects the germplasm to advance to thenext generation. This germplasm is grown under unique and differentgeographical, climatic and soil conditions, and further selections arethen made, during and at the end of the growing season. The inbred linesdeveloped are unpredictable. This unpredictability is because thebreeder's selection occurs in unique environments, with no control atthe DNA level (using conventional breeding procedures or dihaploidbreeding procedures), and with millions of different possible geneticcombinations being generated. A breeder of ordinary skill in the artcannot predict the final resulting lines the breeder develops, exceptpossibly in a very gross and general fashion. This unpredictabilityresults in the expenditure of large research monies to develop superiornew tomato inbred lines and hybrids.

The development of commercial tomato hybrids requires the development ofhomozygous inbred lines, the crossing of these lines, and the evaluationof the hybrid crosses.

Pedigree breeding and recurrent selection breeding methods are used todevelop inbred lines from breeding populations. Breeding programscombine desirable traits from two or more inbred lines or variousbroad-based sources into breeding pools from which inbred lines aredeveloped by selfing and selection of desired phenotypes or through thedihaploid breeding method followed by the selection of desiredphenotypes. The new inbreds are crossed with other inbred lines and thehybrids from these crosses are evaluated to determine which havecommercial potential.

Choice of breeding or selection methods depends on the mode of plantreproduction, the heritability of the trait(s) being improved, and thetype of cultivar used commercially (e.g., F₁ hybrid cultivar, purelinecultivar, etc.). For highly heritable traits, a choice of superiorindividual plants evaluated at a single location will be effective,whereas for traits with low heritability, selection should be based onmean values obtained from replicated evaluations of families of relatedplants. Popular selection methods commonly include pedigree selection,modified pedigree selection, mass selection, recurrent selection, andbackcross breeding.

i. Pedigree Selection

Pedigree breeding is used commonly for the improvement ofself-pollinating crops or inbred lines of cross-pollinating crops. Twoparents possessing favorable, complementary traits are crossed toproduce an F₁. An F₂ population is produced by selfing one or severalF₁s or by intercrossing two F₁s (sib mating). The dihaploid breedingmethod could also be used. Selection of the best individuals is usuallybegun in the F₂ population; then, beginning in the F₃, the bestindividuals in the best families are selected. Replicated testing offamilies, or hybrid combinations involving individuals of thesefamilies, often follows in the F₄ generation to improve theeffectiveness of selection for traits with low heritability. At anadvanced stage of inbreeding (i.e., F₆ and F₇), the best lines ormixtures of phenotypically similar lines are tested for potential use asparents of new hybrid cultivars. Similarly, the development of newinbred lines through the dihaploid system requires the selection of thebest inbreds followed by two to five years of testing in hybridcombinations in replicated plots.

The single-seed descent procedure in the strict sense refers to plantinga segregating population, harvesting a sample of one seed per plant, andusing the one-seed sample to plant the next generation. When thepopulation has been advanced from the F₂ to the desired level ofinbreeding, the plants from which lines are derived will each trace todifferent F₂ individuals. The number of plants in a population declineseach generation due to failure of some seeds to germinate or some plantsto produce at least one seed. As a result, not all of the F₂ plantsoriginally sampled in the population will be represented by a progenywhen generation advance is completed.

In a multiple-seed procedure, breeders commonly harvest one or morefruit containing seed from each plant in a population and blend themtogether to form a bulk seed lot. Part of the bulked seed is used toplant the next generation and part is put in reserve. The procedure hasbeen referred to as modified single-seed descent or the bulk technique.

The multiple-seed procedure has been used to save labor at harvest. Itis considerably faster than removing one seed from each fruit by handfor the single seed procedure. The multiple-seed procedure also makes itpossible to plant the same number of seeds of a population eachgeneration of inbreeding. Enough seeds are harvested to make up forthose plants that did not germinate or produce seed.

Descriptions of other breeding methods that are commonly used fordifferent traits and crops can be found in one of several referencebooks (e.g., R. W. Allard, 1960, Principles of Plant Breeding, JohnWiley and Son, pp. 115-161; N. W. Simmonds, 1979, Principles of CropImprovement, Longman Group Limited; W. R. Fehr, 1987, Principles of CropDevelopment, Macmillan Publishing Co.; N. F. Jensen, 1988, PlantBreeding Methodology, John Wiley & Sons).

ii. Backcross Breeding

Backcross breeding has been used to transfer genes for a simplyinherited, highly heritable trait into a desirable homozygous cultivaror inbred line which is the recurrent parent. The source of the trait tobe transferred is called the donor parent. The resulting plant isexpected to have the attributes of the recurrent parent (e.g., cultivar)and the desirable trait transferred from the donor parent. After theinitial cross, individuals possessing the phenotype recurrent parent andthe trait of interest from the donor parent are selected and repeatedlycrossed (backcrossed) to the recurrent parent. The resulting plant isexpected to have the attributes of the recurrent parent (e.g., cultivar)and the desirable trait transferred from the donor parent.

When the term hybrid tomato plant is used in the context of the presentdisclosure, this also includes any hybrid tomato plant where one or moredesired traits have been introduced through backcrossing methods,whether such trait is a naturally occurring one, a mutant, a transgenicone or a gene or a nucleotide sequence modified by the use of NewBreeding Techniques. Backcrossing methods can be used with the presentdisclosure to improve or introduce one or more characteristic into theinbred parental line, thus potentially introducing these traits in tothe hybrid tomato plant of the present disclosure. The term“backcrossing” as used herein refers to the repeated crossing of ahybrid progeny back to the recurrent parent, i.e., backcrossing one,two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, or more times to therecurrent parent. The parental tomato plant which contributes the geneor the genes for the desired characteristic is termed the nonrecurrentor donor parent. This terminology refers to the fact that thenonrecurrent parent is used one time in the backcross protocol andtherefore does not recur. The parental tomato plant to which the gene orgenes from the nonrecurrent parent are transferred is known as therecurrent parent as it is used for several rounds in the backcrossingprotocol.

In a typical backcross protocol, the original inbred of interest(recurrent parent) is crossed to or by a second inbred (nonrecurrentparent) that carries the gene or genes of interest to be transferred.The resulting progeny from this cross are then crossed again to or bythe recurrent parent and the process is repeated until a tomato plant isobtained wherein all of the desired morphological and physiologicalcharacteristics of the recurrent parent are recovered in the convertedplant, generally determined at a 5% significance level when grown in thesame environmental conditions, in addition to the gene or genestransferred from the nonrecurrent parent. It has to be noted that some,one, two, three or more, self-pollination and growing of populationmight be included between two successive backcrosses. Indeed, anappropriate selection in the population produced by theself-pollination, i.e. selection for the desired trait and physiologicaland morphological characteristics of the recurrent parent might beequivalent to one, two or even three additional backcrosses in acontinuous series without rigorous selection, saving then time, moneyand effort to the breeder. A non-limiting example of such a protocolwould be the following: a) the first generation F₁ produced by the crossof the recurrent parent A by the donor parent B is backcrossed to parentA, b) selection is practiced for the plants having the desired trait ofparent B, c) selected plant are self-pollinated to produce a populationof plants where selection is practiced for the plants having the desiredtrait of parent B and physiological and morphological characteristics ofparent A, d) the selected plants are backcrossed one, two, three, four,five, six, seven, eight, nine, or more times to parent A to produceselected backcross progeny plants comprising the desired trait of parentB and the physiological and morphological characteristics of parent A.Step (c) may or may not be repeated and included between the backcrossesof step (d).

The selection of a suitable recurrent parent is an important step for asuccessful backcrossing procedure. The goal of a backcross protocol isto alter or substitute one or more trait(s) or characteristic(s) in theoriginal inbred parental line in order to find it then in the hybridmade thereof. To accomplish this, a gene or genes of the recurrentinbred is modified or substituted with the desired gene or genes fromthe nonrecurrent parent, while retaining essentially all the rest of thedesired genetic, and therefore the desired physiological andmorphological, constitution of the original inbred. The choice of theparticular nonrecurrent parent will depend on the purpose of thebackcross; one of the major purposes is to add some commerciallydesirable, agronomically important trait(s) to the plant. The exactbackcrossing protocol will depend on the characteristic(s) or trait(s)being altered to determine an appropriate testing protocol. Althoughbackcrossing methods are simplified when the characteristic beingtransferred is a single gene and dominant allele, multiple genes andrecessive allele(s) may also be transferred and therefore, backcrossbreeding is by no means restricted to character(s) governed by one or afew genes. In fact, the number of genes might be less important that theidentification of the character(s) in the segregating population. Inthis instance it may then be necessary to introduce a test of theprogeny to determine if the desired characteristic(s) has beensuccessfully transferred. Such tests encompass visual inspection, simplecrossing, but also follow up of the characteristic(s) throughgenetically associated markers and molecular assisted breeding tools.For example, selection of progeny containing the transferred trait isdone by direct selection, visual inspection for a trait associated witha dominant allele, while the selection of progeny for a trait that istransferred via a recessive allele, such as the orange fruit colorcharacteristic in tomato, requires selfing the progeny or usingmolecular markers to determine which plant carry the recessiveallele(s).

Many single gene traits have been identified that are not regularlyselected for in the development of a new parental inbred of a hybridtomato plant according to the disclosure but that can be improved bybackcrossing techniques. Single gene traits may or may not betransgenic. Examples of these traits include but are not limited to,male sterility (such as the ms1, ms2, ms3, ms4 or ms5 genes), herbicideresistance (such as bar or PAT genes), gynoecia (such as the g gene),resistance for bacterial, fungal (genes Cf for resistance toCladosporium fulvum) or viral disease (gene Ty for resistance to TomatoYellow Leaf Curl Virus (TYLCV), genes Tm-1, Tm-2 and Tm2² for theresistance to the tomato mosaic tobamovirus (ToMV)), insect resistance(gene Mi for resistance to nematodes), increased brix by introduction ofspecific alleles such as the hir4 allele from Lycopersicon hirsutum,high lycopene by using the dg mutant as described in U.S. Ser. No.10/587,789, improved shelf life by using mutants such as the rin(ripening inhibitor), nor (non-ripening) or cnr (colorless non ripening)alleles, increased firmness or slower softening of the fruits due, forexample in a mutation in an expansin gene, absence of gel (i.e. fruitshaving a cavity area which is solid and lacks a gel or liquid contentmale) by the use of the PSAF allele, fertility, enhanced nutritionalquality, enhanced sugar content, yield stability and yield enhancement.These genes are generally inherited through the nucleus. Some knownexceptions to this are the genes for male sterility, some of which areinherited cytoplasmically, but still act as single gene traits. Severalof these single gene traits are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,777,196;5,948,957 and 5,969,212, the disclosures of which are specificallyhereby incorporated by reference.

In 1981, the backcross method of breeding counted for 17% of the totalbreeding effort for inbred line development in the United States,accordingly to, Hallauer, A. R. et al. (1988) “Corn Breeding” Corn andCorn Improvement, No. 18, pp. 463-481.

The backcross breeding method provides a precise way of improvingvarieties that excel in a large number of attributes but are deficientin a few characteristics. (Page 150 of the Pr. R. W. Allard's 1960 book,published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Principles of Plant Breeding). Themethod makes use of a series of backcrosses to the variety to beimproved during which the character or the characters in whichimprovement is sought is maintained by selection. At the end of thebackcrossing the gene or genes being transferred unlike all other genes,will be heterozygous. Selfing after the last backcross produceshomozygosity for this gene pair(s) and, coupled with selection, willresult in a parental line of a hybrid variety with exactly oressentially the same adaptation, yielding ability and qualitycharacteristics of the recurrent parent but superior to that parent inthe particular characteristic(s) for which the improvement program wasundertaken. Therefore, this method provides the plant breeder with ahigh degree of genetic control of this work.

The method is scientifically exact because the morphological andagricultural features of the improved variety could be described inadvance and because a similar variety could, if it were desired, be breda second time by retracing the same steps (Briggs, “Breeding wheatsresistant to bunt by the backcross method”, 1930 Jour. Amer. Soc.Agron., 22: 289-244).

Backcrossing is a powerful mechanism for achieving homozygosity and anypopulation obtained by backcrossing must rapidly converge on thegenotype of the recurrent parent. When backcrossing is made the basis ofa plant breeding program, the genotype of the recurrent parent will betheoretically modified only with regards to genes being transferred,which are maintained in the population by selection.

Successful backcrosses are, for example, the transfer of stem rustresistance from ‘Hope’ wheat to ‘Bart wheat’ and even pursuing thebackcrosses with the transfer of bunt resistance to create ‘Bart 38’,having both resistances. Also highlighted by Allard is the successfultransfer of mildew, leaf spot and wilt resistances in California Commonalfalfa to create ‘Caliverde’. This new ‘Caliverde’ variety producedthrough the backcross process is indistinguishable from CaliforniaCommon except for its resistance to the three named diseases.

One of the advantages of the backcross method is that the breedingprogram can be carried out in almost every environment that will allowthe development of the character being transferred or when usingmolecular markers that can identify the trait of interest.

The backcross technique is not only desirable when breeding for diseaseresistance but also for the adjustment of morphological characters,color characteristics and simply inherited quantitative characters suchas earliness, plant height and seed size and shape.

iii. Open-Pollinated Populations

The improvement of open-pollinated populations of such crops as rye,many maizes and sugar beets, herbage grasses, legumes such as alfalfaand clover, and tropical tree crops such as cacao, coconuts, oil palmand some rubber, depends essentially upon changing gene-frequenciestowards fixation of favorable alleles while maintaining a high (but farfrom maximal) degree of heterozygosity.

Uniformity in such populations is impossible and trueness-to-type in anopen-pollinated variety is a statistical feature of the population as awhole, not a characteristic of individual plants. Thus, theheterogeneity of open-pollinated populations contrasts with thehomogeneity (or virtually so) of inbred lines, clones and hybrids.

Population improvement methods fall naturally into two groups, thosebased on purely phenotypic selection, normally called mass selection,and those based on selection with progeny testing. Interpopulationimprovement utilizes the concept of open breeding populations; allowinggenes to flow from one population to another. Plants in one population(cultivar, strain, ecotype, or any germplasm source) are crossed eithernaturally (e.g., by wind) or by hand or by bees (commonly Apis melliferaL. or Megachile rotundata F.) with plants from other populations.Selection is applied to improve one (or sometimes both) population(s) byisolating plants with desirable traits from both sources.

There are basically two primary methods of open-pollinated populationimprovement.

First, there is the situation in which a population is changed en masseby a chosen selection procedure. The outcome is an improved populationthat is indefinitely propagated by random-mating within itself inisolation.

Second, the synthetic variety attains the same end result as populationimprovement, but is not itself propagated as such; it has to bereconstructed from parental lines or clones. These plant breedingprocedures for improving open-pollinated populations are well known tothose skilled in the art and comprehensive reviews of breedingprocedures routinely used for improving cross-pollinated plants areprovided in numerous texts and articles, including: Allard, Principlesof Plant Breeding, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (1960); Simmonds, Principlesof Crop Improvement, Longman Group Limited (1979); Hallauer and Miranda,Quantitative Genetics in Maize Breeding, Iowa State University Press(1981); and, Jensen, Plant Breeding Methodology, John Wiley & Sons, Inc.(1988).

A) Mass Selection

Mass and recurrent selections can be used to improve populations ofeither self- or cross-pollinating crops. A genetically variablepopulation of heterozygous individuals is either identified or createdby intercrossing several different parents. The best plants are selectedbased on individual superiority, outstanding progeny, or excellentcombining ability. The selected plants are intercrossed to produce a newpopulation in which further cycles of selection are continued. In massselection, desirable individual plants are chosen, harvested, and theseed composited without progeny testing to produce the followinggeneration. Since selection is based on the maternal parent only, andthere is no control over pollination, mass selection amounts to a formof random mating with selection. As stated above, the purpose of massselection is to increase the proportion of superior genotypes in thepopulation.

B) Synthetics

A synthetic variety is produced by intercrossing a number of genotypesselected for good combining ability in all possible hybrid combinations,with subsequent maintenance of the variety by open pollination. Whetherparents are (more or less inbred) seed-propagated lines, as in somesugar beet and beans (Vicia) or clones, as in herbage grasses, cloversand alfalfa, makes no difference in principle. Parents are selected ongeneral combining ability, sometimes by test crosses or toperosses, moregenerally by polycrosses. Parental seed lines may be deliberately inbred(e.g. by selfing or sib crossing). However, even if the parents are notdeliberately inbred, selection within lines during line maintenance willensure that some inbreeding occurs. Clonal parents will, of course,remain unchanged and highly heterozygous.

Whether a synthetic can go straight from the parental seed productionplot to the farmer or must first undergo one or more cycles ofmultiplication depends on seed production and the scale of demand forseed. In practice, grasses and clovers are generally multiplied once ortwice and are thus considerably removed from the original synthetic.

While mass selection is sometimes used, progeny testing is generallypreferred for polycrosses, because of their operational simplicity andobvious relevance to the objective, namely exploitation of generalcombining ability in a synthetic.

The number of parental lines or clones that enters a synthetic varieswidely. In practice, numbers of parental lines range from 10 to severalhundred, with 100-200 being the average. Broad based synthetics formedfrom 100 or more clones would be expected to be more stable during seedmultiplication than narrow based synthetics.

iv. Hybrids

A hybrid is an individual plant resulting from a cross between parentsof differing genotypes. Commercial hybrids are now used extensively inmany crops, including corn (maize), sorghum, sugarbeet, sunflower,broccoli and tomato as well as leafy vegetables such as lettuce. Hybridscan be formed in a number of different ways, including by crossing twoparents directly (single cross hybrids), by crossing a single crosshybrid with another parent (three-way or triple cross hybrids), or bycrossing two different hybrids (four-way or double cross hybrids).

Strictly speaking, most individuals in an out breeding (i.e.,open-pollinated) population are hybrids, but the term is usuallyreserved for cases in which the parents are individuals whose genomesare sufficiently distinct for them to be recognized as different speciesor subspecies. Hybrids may be fertile or sterile depending onqualitative and/or quantitative differences in the genomes of the twoparents. Heterosis, or hybrid vigor, is usually associated withincreased heterozygosity that results in increased vigor of growth,survival, and fertility of hybrids as compared with the parental linesthat were used to form the hybrid. Maximum heterosis is usually achievedby crossing two genetically different, highly inbred lines.

Hybrid commercial tomato seed can be produced by controlled handpollination. The male flowers from the male plants are harvested andused to pollinate the stigmatic surface of the female flowers on thefemale plants. Prior to, and after hand pollination, flowers are coveredso that insects do not bring foreign pollen and create a mix orimpurity. Flowers are tagged to identify pollinated fruit from whichseed will be harvested.

Once the inbreds that give the best hybrid performance have beenidentified, the hybrid seed can be reproduced indefinitely as long asthe homogeneity of the inbred parent is maintained. A single-crosshybrid is produced when two inbred lines are crossed to produce the F₁progeny. A double-cross hybrid is produced from four inbred linescrossed in pairs (A×B and C×D) and then the two F₁ hybrids are crossedagain (A×B)×(C×D). Much of the hybrid vigor and uniformity exhibited byF₁ hybrids is lost in the next generation (F₂). Consequently, seed fromF₂ hybrid varieties is not used for planting stock.

The production of hybrids is a well-developed industry, involving theisolated production of both the parental lines and the hybrids whichresult from crossing those lines. For a detailed discussion of thehybrid production process, see, e.g., Wright, Commercial Hybrid SeedProduction 8:161-176, In Hybridization of Crop Plants.

v. Bulk Segregation Analysis (BSA)

BSA, a.k.a. bulked segregation analysis, or bulk segregant analysis, isa method described by Michelmore et al. (Michelmore et al., 1991,Identification of markers linked to disease-resistance genes by bulkedsegregant analysis: a rapid method to detect markers in specific genomicregions by using segregating populations. Proceedings of the NationalAcademy of Sciences, USA, 99:9828-9832) and Quarrie et al. (Quarrie etal., 1999, Journal of Experimental Botany, 50(337): 1299-1306).

For BSA of a trait of interest, parental lines with certain differentphenotypes are chosen and crossed to generate F₂, doubled haploid orrecombinant inbred populations with QTL analysis. The population is thenphenotyped to identify individual plants or lines having high or lowexpression of the trait. Two DNA bulks are prepared, one from theindividuals having one phenotype (e.g., resistant to virus), and theother from the individuals having reversed phenotype (e.g., susceptibleto virus), and analyzed for allele frequency with molecular markers.Only a few individuals are required in each bulk (e.g., 10 plants each)if the markers are dominant (e.g., RAPDs). More individuals are neededwhen markers are co-dominant (e.g., RFLPs, SNPs or SSRs). Markers linkedto the phenotype can be identified and used for breeding or QTL mapping.

vi. Hand-Pollination Method

Hand pollination describes the crossing of plants via the deliberatefertilization of female ovules with pollen from a desired male parentplant. In some embodiments the donor or recipient female parent and thedonor or recipient male parent line are planted in the same field. Theinbred male parent can be planted earlier than the female parent toensure adequate pollen supply at the pollination time. In someembodiments, the male parent and female parent can be planted at a ratioof 1 male parent to 4-10 female parents. The male parent may be plantedat the top of the field for efficient male flower collection duringpollination. Pollination is started when the female parent flower isready to be fertilized. Female flower buds that are ready to open in thefollowing days are identified, covered with paper cups or small paperbags that prevent bee or any other insect from visiting the femaleflowers, and marked with any kind of material that can be easily seenthe next morning. In some embodiments, this process is best done in theafternoon. The male flowers of the male parent are collected in theearly morning before they are open and visited by pollinating insects.The covered female flowers of the female parent, which have opened, areun-covered and pollinated with the collected fresh male flowers of themale parent, starting as soon as the male flower sheds pollen. Thepollinated female flowers are again covered after pollination to preventbees and any other insects visit. The pollinated female flowers are alsomarked. The marked fruits are harvested. In some embodiments, the malepollen used for fertilization has been previously collected and stored.

vii. Bee-Pollination Method

Using the bee-pollination method, the parent plants are usually plantedwithin close proximity. In some embodiments more female plants areplanted to allow for a greater production of seed. Breeding of dioeciousspecies can also be done by growing equal amount of each parent plant.Insects are placed in the field or greenhouses for transfer of pollenfrom the male parent to the female flowers of the female parent. In someembodiments, fruits set after the introduction of the beehives can bemarked for later collection.

viii. Targeting Induced Local Lesions in Genomes (TILLING)

Breeding schemes of the present application can include crosses withTILLING® plant lines. TILLING® is a method in molecular biology thatallows directed identification of mutations in a specific gene. TILLING®was introduced in 2000, using the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana.TILLING® has since been used as a reverse genetics method in otherorganisms such as zebrafish, corn, wheat, rice, soybean, tomato andlettuce.

The method combines a standard and efficient technique of mutagenesiswith a chemical mutagen (e.g., Ethyl methanesulfonate (EMS)) with asensitive DNA screening-technique that identifies single base mutations(also called point mutations) in a target gene. EcoTILLING is a methodthat uses TILLING® techniques to look for natural mutations inindividuals, usually for population genetics analysis (see Comai, etal., 2003 The Plant Journal 37, 778-786; Gilchrist et al. 2006 Mol.Ecol. 15, 1367-1378; Mejlhede et al. 2006 Plant Breeding 125, 461-467;Nieto et al. 2007 BMC Plant Biology 7, 34-42, each of which isincorporated by reference hereby for all purposes). DEcoTILLING is amodification of TILLING® and EcoTILLING which uses an inexpensive methodto identify fragments (Garvin et al., 2007, DEco-TILLING: An inexpensivemethod for SNP discovery that reduces ascertainment bias. MolecularEcology Notes 7, 735-746).

The TILLING® method relies on the formation of heteroduplexes that areformed when multiple alleles (which could be from a heterozygote or apool of multiple homozygotes and heterozygotes) are amplified in a PCR,heated, and then slowly cooled. As DNA bases are not pairing at themismatch of the two DNA strands (the induced mutation in TILLING® or thenatural mutation or SNP in EcoTILLING), they provoke a shape change inthe double strand DNA fragment which is then cleaved by single strandednucleases. The products are then separated by size on several differentplatforms.

Several TILLING® centers exists over the world that focus onagriculturally important species: UC Davis (USA), focusing on Rice;Purdue University (USA), focusing on Maize; University of BritishColumbia (CA), focusing on Brassica napus; John Innes Centre (UK),focusing on Brassica rapa; Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research, focusing onArabidopsis; Southern Illinois University (USA), focusing on Soybean;John Innes Centre (UK), focusing on Lotus and Medicago; and INRA(France), focusing on Pea and Tomato.

More detailed description on methods and compositions on TILLING® can befound in U.S. Pat. No. 5,994,075, US 2004/0053236 A1, WO 2005/055704,and WO 2005/048692, each of which is hereby incorporated by referencefor all purposes.

Thus, in some embodiments, the breeding methods of the presentdisclosure include breeding with one or more TILLING plant lines withone or more identified mutations.

ix. Mutation Breeding

Mutation breeding is another method of introducing new variation andsubsequent traits into tomato plants. Mutations that occur spontaneouslyor are artificially induced can be useful sources of variability for aplant breeder. The goal of artificial mutagenesis is to increase therate of mutation for a desired characteristic. Mutation rates can beincreased by many different means or mutating agents includingtemperature, long-term seed storage, tissue culture conditions,radiation (such as X-rays, Gamma rays, neutrons, Beta radiation, orultraviolet radiation), chemical mutagens (such as base analogs like5-bromo-uracil), antibiotics, alkylating agents (such as sulfurmustards, nitrogen mustards, epoxides, ethyleneamines, sulfates,sulfonates, sulfones, or lactones), azide, hydroxylamine, nitrous acidor acridines. Once a desired trait is observed through mutagenesis thetrait may then be incorporated into existing germplasm by traditionalbreeding techniques. Details of mutation breeding can be found in W. R.Fehr, 1993, Principles of Cultivar Development, Macmillan Publishing Co.

New breeding techniques such as the ones involving the uses ofengineered nuclease to enhance the efficacy and precision of geneediting in combination with oligonucleotides including, but not limitedto Zinc Finger Nucleases (ZFN), TAL effector nucleases (TALENs) andclustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats(CRISPR)-associated endonuclease Cas9 (CRISPR-Cas9) shall also be usedto generate genetic variability and introduce new traits into tomatovarieties.

x. Double Haploids and Chromosome Doubling

One way to obtain homozygous plants without the need to cross twoparental lines followed by a long selection of the segregating progeny,and/or multiple backcrossing is to produce haploids and then double thechromosomes to form doubled haploids. Haploid plants can occurspontaneously, or may be artificially induced via chemical treatments orby crossing plants with inducer lines (Seymour et al. 2012, PNAS vol.109, pg. 4227-4232; Zhang et al., 2008 Plant Cell Rep. December 27(12)1851-60). The production of haploid progeny can occur via a variety ofmechanisms which can affect the distribution of chromosomes duringgamete formation. The chromosome complements of haploids sometimesdouble spontaneously to produce homozygous doubled haploids (DHs).Mixoploids, which are plants which contain cells having differentploidies, can sometimes arise and may represent plants that areundergoing chromosome doubling so as to spontaneously produce doubledhaploid tissues, organs, shoots, floral parts or plants. Another commontechnique is to induce the formation of double haploid plants with achromosome doubling treatment such as colchicine (El-Hennawy et al.,2011 Vol 56, issue 2 pg. 63-72; Doubled Haploid Production in CropPlants 2003 edited by Maluszynski ISBN 1-4020-1544-5). The production ofdoubled haploid plants yields highly uniform inbred lines and isespecially desirable as an alternative to sexual inbreeding oflonger-generation crops. By producing doubled haploid progeny, thenumber of possible gene combinations for inherited traits is moremanageable. Thus, an efficient doubled haploid technology cansignificantly reduce the time and the cost of inbred and cultivardevelopment.

xi. Protoplast Fusion

In another method for breeding plants, protoplast fusion can also beused for the transfer of trait-conferring genomic material from a donorplant to a recipient plant. Protoplast fusion is an induced orspontaneous union, such as a somatic hybridization, between two or moreprotoplasts (cells of which the cell walls are removed by enzymatictreatment) to produce a single bi- or multi-nucleate cell. The fusedcell that may even be obtained with plant species that cannot beinterbred in nature is tissue cultured into a hybrid plant exhibitingthe desirable combination of traits.

xii. Embryo Rescue

Alternatively, embryo rescue may be employed in the transfer ofresistance-conferring genomic material from a donor plant to a recipientplant. Embryo rescue can be used as a procedure to isolate embryos fromcrosses to rapidly move to the next generation of backcrossing orselfing or wherein plants fail to produce viable seed. In this process,the fertilized ovary or immature seed of a plant is tissue cultured tocreate new plants (see Pierik, 1999, In Vitro Culture of Higher Plants,Springer, ISBN 079235267X, 978-0792352679, which is incorporated hereinby reference in its entirety).

Grafting

Grafting is a process that has been used for many years in crops such ascucurbitacea, but only more recently for some commercial watermelon andtomato production. Grafting may be used to provide a certain level ofresistance to telluric pathogens such as Phytophthora or to certainnematodes. Grafting is therefore intended to prevent contact between theplant or variety to be cultivated and the infested soil. The variety ofinterest used as the graft or scion, optionally an F₁ hybrid, is graftedonto the resistant plant used as the rootstock. The resistant rootstockremains healthy and provides, from the soils, the normal supply for thegraft that it isolates from the diseases. In some recent developments,it has also been shown that some rootstocks are also able to improve theagronomic value for the grafted plant and in particular the equilibriumbetween the vegetative and generative development that are alwaysdifficult to balance in tomato cultivation.

Breeding Evaluation

Each breeding program can include a periodic, objective evaluation ofthe efficiency of the breeding procedure. Evaluation criteria varydepending on the goal and objectives, but should include gain fromselection per year based on comparisons to an appropriate standard,overall value of the advanced breeding lines, and number of successfulcultivars produced per unit of input (e.g., per year, per dollarexpended, etc.).

Promising advanced breeding lines are thoroughly tested per se and inhybrid combination and compared to appropriate standards in environmentsrepresentative of the commercial target area(s). The best lines arecandidates for use as parents in new commercial cultivars; those stilldeficient in a few traits may be used as parents to produce newpopulations for further selection or in a backcross program to improvethe parent lines for a specific trait.

In some embodiments, the plants are selected on the basis of one or morephenotypic traits. Skilled persons will readily appreciate that suchtraits include any observable characteristic of the plant, including forexample growth rate, vigor, plant health, maturity, branching, plantheight, leaf coverage, weight, total yield, color, taste, sugar levels,aroma, changes in the production of one or more compounds by the plant(including for example, metabolites, proteins, drugs, carbohydrates,oils, and any other compounds).

A most difficult task is the identification of individuals that aregenetically superior, because for most traits the true genotypic valueis masked by other confounding plant traits or environmental factors.One method of identifying a superior plant is to observe its performancerelative to other experimental plants and to a widely grown standardcultivar. If a single observation is inconclusive, replicatedobservations provide a better estimate of its genetic worth.

Proper testing should detect any major faults and establish the level ofsuperiority or improvement over current cultivars. In addition toshowing superior performance, there must be a demand for a new cultivarthat is compatible with industry standards or which creates a newmarket. The introduction of a new cultivar will incur additional coststo the seed producer, the grower, processor and consumer for specialadvertising and marketing, altered seed and commercial productionpractices, and new product utilization. The testing preceding release ofa new cultivar should take into consideration research and developmentcosts as well as technical superiority of the final cultivar. Forseed-propagated cultivars, it must be feasible to produce seed easilyand economically.

It should be appreciated that in certain embodiments, plants may beselected based on the absence, suppression or inhibition of a certainfeature or trait (such as an undesirable feature or trait) as opposed tothe presence of a certain feature or trait (such as a desirable featureor trait).

Selecting plants based on genotypic information is also envisaged (forexample, including the pattern of plant gene expression, genotype, orpresence of genetic markers). Where the presence of one or more geneticmarker is assessed, the one or more marker may already be known and/orassociated with a particular characteristic of a plant; for example, amarker or markers may be associated with an increased growth rate ormetabolite profile. This information could be used in combination withassessment based on other characteristics in a method of the disclosureto select for a combination of different plant characteristics that maybe desirable. Such techniques may be used to identify novel quantitativetrait loci (QTLs). By way of example, plants may be selected based ongrowth rate, size (including but not limited to weight, height, leafsize, stem size, branching pattern, or the size of any part of theplant), general health, survival, tolerance to adverse physicalenvironments and/or any other characteristic, as described hereinbefore.

Further non-limiting examples include selecting plants based on: speedof seed germination; quantity of biomass produced; increased root,and/or leaf/shoot growth that leads to an increased yield (fruit) orbiomass production; effects on plant growth that results in an increasedseed yield for a crop; effects on plant growth which result in anincreased yield; effects on plant growth that lead to an increasedresistance or tolerance to disease including fungal, viral or bacterialdiseases, to mycoplasma, or to pests such as insects, mites or nematodesin which damage is measured by decreased foliar symptoms such as theincidence of bacterial or fungal lesions, or area of damaged foliage orreduction in the numbers of nematode cysts or galls on plant roots, orimprovements in plant yield in the presence of such plant pests anddiseases; effects on plant growth that lead to increased metaboliteyields; effects on plant growth that lead to improved aesthetic appealwhich may be particularly important in plants grown for their form,color or taste, for example the color intensity of tomato exocarp (skin)of said fruit.

Molecular Breeding Evaluation Techniques

Selection of plants based on phenotypic or genotypic information may beperformed using techniques such as, but not limited to: high through-putscreening of chemical components of plant origin, sequencing techniquesincluding high through-put sequencing of genetic material, differentialdisplay techniques (including DDRT-PCR, and DD-PCR), nucleic acidmicroarray techniques, RNA-seq (Transcriptome Sequencing), qRTPCR(quantitative real time PCR).

In one embodiment, the evaluating step of a plant breeding programinvolves the identification of desirable traits in progeny plants.Progeny plants can be grown in, or exposed to conditions designed toemphasize a particular trait (e.g. drought conditions for droughttolerance, lower temperatures for freezing tolerant traits). Progenyplants with the highest scores for a particular trait may be used forsubsequent breeding steps.

In some embodiments, plants selected from the evaluation step canexhibit a 1%, 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, 25%, 30%, 35%, 40%, 45%, 50%, 55%, 60%,65%, 70%, 75%, 80%, 85%, 90%, 95%, 100%, 120% or more improvement in aparticular plant trait compared to a control plant.

In other embodiments, the evaluating step of plant breeding comprisesone or more molecular biological tests for genes or other markers. Forexample, the molecular biological test can involve probe hybridizationand/or amplification of nucleic acid (e.g., measuring nucleic aciddensity by Northern or Southern hybridization, PCR) and/or immunologicaldetection (e.g., measuring protein density, such as precipitation andagglutination tests, ELISA (e.g., Lateral Flow test or DAS-ELISA),Western blot, immune labeling, immunosorbent electron microscopy (ISEM),and/or dot blot).

The procedure to perform a nucleic acid hybridization, an amplificationof nucleic acid (e.g., PCR, RT-PCR) or an immunological detection (e.g.,precipitation and agglutination tests, ELISA (e.g., Lateral Flow test orDAS-ELISA), Western blot, RIA, immunogold or immunofluorescent labeling,immunosorbent electron microscopy (ISEM), and/or dot blot tests) areperformed as described elsewhere herein and well-known by one skilled inthe art.

In one embodiment, the evaluating step comprises PCR (semi-quantitativeor quantitative), wherein primers are used to amplify one or morenucleic acid sequences of a desirable gene, or a nucleic acid associatedwith said gene, or QTL or a desirable trait (e.g., a co-segregatingnucleic acid, or other marker).

In another embodiment, the evaluating step comprises immunologicaldetection (e.g., precipitation and agglutination tests, ELISA (e.g.,Lateral Flow test or DAS-ELISA), Western blot, RIA, immuno labeling(gold, fluorescent, or other detectable marker), immunosorbent electronmicroscopy (ISEM), and/or dot blot), wherein one or more gene ormarker-specific antibodies are used to detect one or more desirableproteins. In one embodiment, said specific antibody is selected from thegroup consisting of polyclonal antibodies, monoclonal antibodies,antibody fragments, and combination thereof.

Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) can be utilizedin the present disclosure to determine expression of a gene to assistduring the selection step of a breeding scheme. It is a variant ofpolymerase chain reaction (PCR), a laboratory technique commonly used inmolecular biology to generate many copies of a DNA sequence, a processtermed “amplification”. In RT-PCR, however, RNA strand is first reversetranscribed into its DNA complement (complementary DNA, or cDNA) usingthe enzyme reverse transcriptase, and the resulting cDNA is amplifiedusing traditional or real-time PCR. An example PCR scheme is presentedbelow.

RT-PCR utilizes a pair of primers, which are complementary to a definedsequence on each of the two strands of the mRNA. These primers are thenextended by a DNA polymerase and a copy of the strand is made after eachcycle, leading to logarithmic amplification.

RT-PCR includes three major steps. The first step is the reversetranscription (RT) where RNA is reverse transcribed to cDNA using areverse transcriptase and primers. This step is very important in orderto allow the performance of PCR since DNA polymerase can act only on DNAtemplates. The RT step can be performed either in the same tube with PCR(one-step PCR) or in a separate one (two-step PCR) using a temperaturebetween 40° C. and 60° C., depending on the properties of the reversetranscriptase used.

The next step involves the denaturation of the dsDNA at 95° C., so thatthe two strands separate and the primers can bind again at lowertemperatures and begin a new chain reaction. Then, the temperature isdecreased until it reaches the annealing temperature which can varydepending on the set of primers used, their concentration, the probe andits concentration (if used), and the cation concentration. The mainconsideration, of course, when choosing the optimal annealingtemperature is the melting temperature (Tm) of the primers and probes(if used). The annealing temperature chosen for a PCR depends directlyon length and composition of the primers. This is the result of thedifference of hydrogen bonds between A-T (2 bonds) and G-C (3 bonds). Anannealing temperature about 5 degrees below the lowest Tm of the pair ofprimers is usually used.

The final step of PCR amplification is the DNA extension from theprimers which is done by the thermostable Taq DNA polymerase usually at72° C., which is the optimal temperature for the polymerase to work. Thelength of the incubation at each temperature, the temperaturealterations and the number of cycles are controlled by a programmablethermal cycler. The analysis of the PCR products depends on the type ofPCR applied. If a conventional PCR is used, the PCR product is detectedusing for example agarose gel electrophoresis or other polymer gel likepolyacrylamide gels and ethidium bromide (or other nucleic acidstaining).

Conventional RT-PCR is a time-consuming technique with importantlimitations when compared to real time PCR techniques. This combinedwith the fact that ethidium bromide has low sensitivity, yields resultsthat are not always reliable. Moreover, there is an increasedcross-contamination risk of the samples since detection of the PCRproduct requires the post-amplification processing of the samples.Furthermore, the specificity of the assay is mainly determined by theprimers, which can give false-positive results. However, the mostimportant issue concerning conventional RT-PCR is the fact that it is asemi or even a low quantitative technique, where the amplicon can bevisualized only after the amplification ends.

Real time RT-PCR provides a method where the amplicons can be visualizedas the amplification progresses using a fluorescent reporter molecule.There are three major kinds of fluorescent reporters used in real timeRT-PCR, general nonspecific DNA Binding Dyes such as SYBR Green I,TaqMan Probes and Molecular Beacons (including Scorpions).

For example, the real time PCR thermal cycler has a fluorescencedetection threshold, below which it cannot discriminate the differencebetween amplification generated signal and background noise. On theother hand, the fluorescence increases as the amplification progressesand the instrument performs data acquisition during the annealing stepof each cycle. The number of amplicons will reach the detection baselineafter a specific cycle, which depends on the initial concentration ofthe target DNA sequence. The cycle at which the instrument candiscriminate the amplification generated fluorescence from thebackground noise is called the threshold cycle (Ct). The higher is theinitial DNA concentration, the lower its Ct will be.

Other forms of nucleic acid detection can include next generationsequencing methods such as DNA SEQ or RNA SEQ using any known sequencingplatform including, but not limited to: Roche 454, Solexa GenomeAnalyzer, AB SOLiD, Illumina GA/HiSeq, Ion PGM, Mi Seq, among others(Liu et al., 2012 Journal of Biomedicine and Biotechnology Volume 2012ID 251364; Franca et al., 2002 Quarterly Reviews of Biophysics 35 pg.169-200; Mardis 2008 Genomics and Human Genetics vol. 9 pg. 387-402).

In other embodiments, nucleic acids may be detected with other highthroughput hybridization technologies including microarrays, gene chips,LNA probes, nanoStrings, and fluorescence polarization detection amongothers.

In some embodiments, detection of markers can be achieved at an earlystage of plant growth by harvesting a small tissue sample (e.g., branch,or leaf disk). This approach is preferable when working with largepopulations as it allows breeders to weed out undesirable progeny at anearly stage and conserve growth space and resources for progeny whichshow more promise. In some embodiments the detection of markers isautomated, such that the detection and storage of marker data is handledby a machine. Recent advances in robotics have also led to full serviceanalysis tools capable of handling nucleic acid/protein markerextractions, detection, storage and analysis.

Quantitative Trait Loci

Breeding schemes of the present application can include crosses betweendonor and recipient plants. In some embodiments, said donor plantscontain a gene or genes of interest which may confer the plant with adesirable phenotype. The recipient line can be an elite line havingcertain favorable traits for commercial production. In one embodiment,the elite line may contain other genes that also impart said line withthe desired phenotype. When crossed together, the donor and recipientplant may create a progeny plant with combined desirable loci which mayprovide quantitatively additive effect of a particular characteristic.In that case, QTL mapping can be involved to facilitate the breedingprocess.

A QTL (quantitative trait locus) mapping can be applied to determine theparts of the donor plant's genome conferring the desirable phenotype,and facilitate the breeding methods. Inheritance of quantitative traitsor polygenic inheritance refers to the inheritance of a phenotypiccharacteristic that varies in degree and can be attributed to theinteractions between two or more genes and their environment. Though notnecessarily genes themselves, quantitative trait loci (QTLs) arestretches of DNA that are closely linked to the genes that underlie thetrait in question. QTLs can be molecularly identified to help mapregions of the genome that contain genes involved in specifying aquantitative trait. This can be an early step in identifying andsequencing these genes.

Typically, QTLs underlie continuous traits (those traits that varycontinuously, e.g. yield, height, level of resistance to virus, etc.) asopposed to discrete traits (traits that have two or several charactervalues, e.g. smooth vs. wrinkled peas used by Mendel in hisexperiments). Moreover, a single phenotypic trait is usually determinedby many genes. Consequently, many QTLs are associated with a singletrait.

A quantitative trait locus (QTL) is a region of DNA that is associatedwith a particular phenotypic trait. Knowing the number of QTLs thatexplains variation in the phenotypic trait tells about the geneticarchitecture of a trait. It may tell that a trait is controlled by manygenes of small effect, or by a few genes of large effect or by a severalgenes of small effect and few genes of larger effect.

Another use of QTLs is to identify candidate genes underlying a trait.Once a region of DNA is identified as contributing to a phenotype, itcan be sequenced. The DNA sequence of any genes in this region can thenbe compared to a database of DNA for genes whose function is alreadyknown.

In a recent development, classical QTL analyses are combined with geneexpression profiling i.e. by DNA microarrays. Such expression QTLs(e-QTLs) describes cis- and trans-controlling elements for theexpression of often disease-associated genes. Observed epistatic effectshave been found beneficial to identify the gene responsible by across-validation of genes within the interacting loci with metabolicpathway and scientific literature databases.

QTL mapping is the statistical study of the alleles that occur in alocus and the phenotypes (physical forms or traits) that they produce(see, Meksem and Kahl, The handbook of plant genome mapping: genetic andphysical mapping, 2005, Wiley-VCH, ISBN 3527311165, 9783527311163).Because most traits of interest are governed by more than one gene,defining and studying the entire locus of genes related to a trait giveshope of understanding what effect the genotype of an individual mighthave in the real world.

Statistical analysis is required to demonstrate that different genesinteract with one another and to determine whether they produce asignificant effect on the phenotype. QTLs identify a particular regionof the genome as containing one or several genes, i.e. a cluster ofgenes that is associated with the trait being assayed or measured. Theyare shown as intervals across a chromosome, where the probability ofassociation is plotted for each marker used in the mapping experiment.

To begin, a set of genetic markers must be developed for the species inquestion. A marker is an identifiable region of variable DNA. Biologistsare interested in understanding the genetic basis of phenotypes(physical traits). The aim is to find a marker that is significantlymore likely to co-occur with the trait than expected by chance, that is,a marker that has a statistical association with the trait. Ideally,they would be able to find the specific gene or genes in question, butthis is a long and difficult undertaking. Instead, they can more readilyfind regions of DNA that are very close to the genes in question. When aQTL is found, it is often not the actual gene underlying the phenotypictrait, but rather a region of DNA that is closely linked with the gene.

For organisms whose genomes are known, one might now try to excludegenes in the identified region whose function is known with somecertainty not to be connected with the trait in question. If the genomeis not available, it may be an option to sequence the identified regionand determine the putative functions of genes by their similarity togenes with known function, usually in other genomes. This can be doneusing BLAST, an online tool that allows users to enter a primarysequence and search for similar sequences within the BLAST database ofgenes from various organisms.

Another interest of statistical geneticists using QTL mapping is todetermine the complexity of the genetic architecture underlying aphenotypic trait. For example, they may be interested in knowing whethera phenotype is shaped by many independent loci, or by a few loci, andhow those loci interact. This can provide information on how thephenotype may be evolving.

Molecular markers are used for the visualization of differences innucleic acid sequences. This visualization is possible due to DNA-DNAhybridization techniques (RFLP) and/or due to techniques using thepolymerase chain reaction (e.g. STS, SNPs, microsatellites, AFLP). Alldifferences between two parental genotypes will segregate in a mappingpopulation based on the cross of these parental genotypes. Thesegregation of the different markers may be compared and recombinationfrequencies can be calculated. The recombination frequencies ofmolecular markers on different chromosomes are generally 50%. Betweenmolecular markers located on the same chromosome the recombinationfrequency depends on the distance between the markers. A lowrecombination frequency usually corresponds to a low distance betweenmarkers on a chromosome. Comparing all recombination frequencies willresult in the most logical order of the molecular markers on thechromosomes. This most logical order can be depicted in a linkage map(Paterson, 1996, Genome Mapping in Plants. R. G. Landes, Austin.). Agroup of adjacent or contiguous markers on the linkage map that isassociated to a reduced disease incidence and/or a reduced lesion growthrate pinpoints the position of a QTL.

The nucleic acid sequence of a QTL may be determined by methods known tothe skilled person. For instance, a nucleic acid sequence comprisingsaid QTL or a resistance-conferring part thereof may be isolated from adonor plant by fragmenting the genome of said plant and selecting thosefragments harboring one or more markers indicative of said QTL.Subsequently, or alternatively, the marker sequences (or parts thereof)indicative of said QTL may be used as (PCR) amplification primers, inorder to amplify a nucleic acid sequence comprising said QTL from agenomic nucleic acid sample or a genome fragment obtained from saidplant. The amplified sequence may then be purified in order to obtainthe isolated QTL. The nucleotide sequence of the QTL, and/or of anyadditional markers comprised therein, may then be obtained by standardsequencing methods.

One or more such QTLs associated with a desirable trait in a donor plantcan be transferred to a recipient plant to incorporate the desirabletrait into progeny plants by transferring and/or breeding methods.

In one embodiment, an advanced backcross QTL analysis (AB-QTL) is usedto discover the nucleotide sequence or the QTLs responsible for theresistance of a plant. Such method was proposed by Tanksley and Nelsonin 1996 (Tanksley and Nelson, 1996, Advanced backcross QTL analysis: amethod for simultaneous discovery and transfer of valuable QTL fromun-adapted germplasm into elite breeding lines. Theor Appl Genet92:191-203) as a new breeding method that integrates the process of QTLdiscovery with variety development, by simultaneously identifying andtransferring useful QTL alleles from un-adapted (e.g., land races, wildspecies) to elite germplasm, thus broadening the genetic diversityavailable for breeding. AB-QTL strategy was initially developed andtested in tomato, and has been adapted for use in other crops includingrice, maize, wheat, pepper, barley, and bean. Once favorable QTL allelesare detected, only a few additional marker-assisted generations arerequired to generate near isogenic lines (NILs) or introgression lines(ILs) that can be field tested in order to confirm the QTL effect andsubsequently used for variety development.

Isogenic lines in which favorable QTL alleles have been fixed can begenerated by systematic backcrossing and introgressing of marker-defineddonor segments in the recurrent parent background. These isogenic linesare referred to as near isogenic lines (NILs), introgression lines(ILs), backcross inbred lines (BILs), backcross recombinant inbred lines(BCRIL), recombinant chromosome substitution lines (RCSLs), chromosomesegment substitution lines (CSSLs), and stepped aligned inbredrecombinant strains (STAIRSs). An introgression line in plant molecularbiology is a line of a crop species that contains genetic materialderived from a similar species. ILs represent NILs with relatively largeaverage introgression length, while BILs and BCRILs are backcrosspopulations generally containing multiple donor introgressions per line.As used herein, the term “introgression lines or ILs” refers to plantlines containing a single marker defined homozygous donor segment, andthe term “pre-ILs” refers to lines which still contain multiplehomozygous and/or heterozygous donor segments.

To enhance the rate of progress of introgression breeding, a geneticinfrastructure of exotic libraries can be developed. Such an exoticlibrary comprises a set of introgression lines, each of which has asingle, possibly homozygous, marker-defined chromosomal segment thatoriginates from a donor exotic parent, in an otherwise homogenous elitegenetic background, so that the entire donor genome would be representedin a set of introgression lines. A collection of such introgressionlines is referred as libraries of introgression lines or IL libraries(ILLs). The lines of an ILL cover usually the complete genome of thedonor, or the part of interest. Introgression lines allow the study ofquantitative trait loci, but also the creation of new varieties byintroducing exotic traits. High resolution mapping of QTL using ILLsenable breeders to assess whether the effect on the phenotype is due toa single QTL or to several tightly linked QTL affecting the same trait.In addition, sub-ILs can be developed to discover molecular markerswhich are more tightly linked to the QTL of interest, which can be usedfor marker-assisted breeding (MAB). Multiple introgression lines can bedeveloped when the introgression of a single QTL is not sufficient toresult in a substantial improvement in agriculturally important traits(Gur and Zamir, Unused natural variation can lift yield barriers inplant breeding, 2004, PLoS Biol.; 2(10):e245).

Tissue Culture

As it is well known in the art, tissue culture of tomato can be used forthe in vitro regeneration of tomato plants. Tissues cultures of varioustissues of tomato and regeneration of plants therefrom are well knownand published. By way of example, a tissue culture comprising organs hasbeen used to produce regenerated plants as described in Girish-Chandelet al., Advances in Plant Sciences. 2000, 13: 1, 11-17, Costa et al.,Plant Cell Report. 2000, 19: 3327-332, Plastira et al., ActaHorticulturae. 1997, 447, 231-234, Zagorska et al., Plant Cell Report.1998, 17: 12 968-973, Asahura et al., Breeding Science. 1995, 45:455-459, Chen et al., Breeding Science. 1994, 44: 3, 257-262, Patil etal., Plant and Tissue and Organ Culture. 1994, 36: 2, 255-258. It isclear from the literature that the state of the art is such that thesemethods of obtaining plants are routinely used and have a very high rateof success. Thus, another aspect of this disclosure is to provide cellswhich upon growth and differentiation produce tomato plants having allof the physiological and morphological characteristics of hybrid tomatoplant HMC44131.

As used herein, the term “tissue culture” indicates a compositioncomprising isolated cells of the same or a different type or acollection of such cells organized into parts of a plant. Exemplarytypes of tissue cultures are protoplasts, calli, plant clumps, and plantcells that can generate tissue culture that are intact in plants orparts of plants, such as embryos, pollens, flowers, seeds, leaves,stems, roots, root tips, anthers, pistils, meristematic cells, axillarybuds, ovaries, seed coats, endosperms, hypocotyls, cotyledons and thelike. Means for preparing and maintaining plant tissue culture are wellknown in the art. By way of example, a tissue culture comprising organshas been used to produce regenerated plants. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,959,185,5,973,234, and 5,977,445 describe certain techniques, the disclosures ofwhich are incorporated herein by reference.

EXAMPLES

The foregoing examples of the related art and limitations relatedtherewith are intended to be illustrative and not exclusive. Otherlimitations of the related art will become apparent to those of skill inthe art upon a reading of the specification.

Example 1—Development of New HMC44131 Tomato Variety Breeding History ofHMC44131

Hybrid tomato plant HMC44131 has superior characteristics. The female(IFTOMF7) and male (IFTOMM7) parents were crossed to produce hybrid (F₁)seeds of HMC44131. The seeds of HMC44131 can be grown to produce hybridplants and parts thereof. The hybrid HMC44131 can be propagated by seedsproduced from crossing tomato inbred line IFTOMF7 with tomato inbredline IFTOMM7 or vegetatively.

The origin and breeding history of hybrid plant HMC44131 can besummarized as follows: the line IFTOMF7 was used as the female plant andcrossed by pollen from the line IFTOMM7 (both proprietary lines owned byHM.CLAUSE, S.A.S.). The first trial planting of this hybrid was done in2 locations in Mexico in the fall and spring seasons of the first yearof development. The hybrid was further trialed for three additionalyears, an example of such trial being disclosed in Tables 2 and 3.

The inbred line IFTOMF7 is a parent with an indeterminate, medium-tallvine that produces small, oblate fruits. This inbred line was used asfemale parent in this cross.

The inbred IFTOMM7 is a parent with an indeterminate, tall vine andjumbo (XXL class) fruit, with cylindrical shape. It was used as the maleparent in this cross.

Hybrid tomato plant HMC44131 is similar to hybrid tomato Mesias, acommercial variety. As shown in table 1, while similar to hybrid tomatoMesias there are significant differences including the plant heightwhich is very long HMC44131 and long for Mesias. The leaf blade ispinnate for HMC44131 and bipinnate for Mesias. They also differ theintensity of the green color of the fruit shoulder before maturity withHMC44131 having a light green color while Mesias has a medium greencolor. Resistance to Meloidogyne incognita also differs with HMC44131being highly resistant while Mesias is moderately resistant.

Some of the criteria used to select the hybrid HMC44131 as well asinbred parent lines in various generations include: plant vigor, leafcoverage, internode length, fruit setting, fruit size, fruit firmness,number of locules, fruit shape, fruit color and disease resistances.

Hybrid tomato plant HMC44131 has shown uniformity and stability for thetraits, within the limits of environmental influence for the traits asdescribed in the following Variety Descriptive Information. No varianttraits have been observed or are expected for important agronomicaltraits in tomato hybrid HMC44131.

Hybrid tomato plant HMC44131 has the following morphologic and othercharacteristics, as compared to Mesias (based primarily on datacollected in Mexico, all experiments done under the direct supervisionof the applicant).

TABLE 1 Trait Scale HMC44131 Mesias Seedling Seed-propagated varietiesonly: absent, present absent absent Seedling: Anthocyanin coloration ofhypocotyl Plant: Growth type determinate, indeterminate indeterminateindeterminate Stem: Anthocyanin coloration absent or very weak, weak,medium, absent or very absent or very strong, very strong weak weak Onlyindeterminate varieties: short, medium, long medium medium Stem: Lengthof internode Only indeterminate varieties: very short, short, medium,long, very very long long Plant: Height long Leaf Leaf: Attitude erect,semi-erect, horizontal, semi- semi-drooping semi-drooping drooping,drooping Leaf: Length short, medium, long medium medium Leaf: Widthnarrow, medium, broad medium medium Leaf: Type of blade pinnate,bipinnate pinnate bipinnate Leaf: Size of leaflets very small, small,medium, large, very large medium large Leaf: Intensity of green colorlight, medium, dark dark dark Leaf: Glossiness weak, medium, strongmedium medium Leaf: Blistering weak, medium, strong medium medium Leaf:Attitude of petiole of leaflet semi-erect, horizontal, semi-droopinghorizontal horizontal in relation to main axis Flower Inflorescence:Type mainly uniparous, equally uniparous mainly mainly and multiparous,mainly multiparous uniparous uniparous Flower: Color yellow, orangeyellow yellow Flower: Pubescence of style absent, present absent absentPeduncle: Abscission layer absent, present present present Onlyvarieties with peduncle short, medium, long medium medium abscissionlayer: Pedicel length Fruit Fruit: Green shoulder (before absent,present absent absent maturity) Fruit: Intensity of green color oflight, medium, dark light medium shoulder (before maturity) Fruit:Intensity of green color very light, light, medium, dark, very lightmedium excluding shoulder (before dark maturity) Fruit: Green stripes(before absent, present absent absent maturity) Fruit: Size very small,small, medium, large, very large large large Fruit: Ratiolength/diameter very compressed, moderately moderately moderatelycompressed, medium, moderately elongated elongated elongated, veryelongated Fruit: Shape in longitudinal flattened, oblate, circular,oblong, obovate obovate section cylindric, elliptic, cordate, ovate,obovate, pyriform, obcordate Fruit: Ribbing at peduncle end absent orvery weak, weak, medium, absent or very absent or very strong, verystrong weak weak Fruit: Depression at peduncle end absent or very weak,weak, medium, medium weak strong Fruit: Size of peduncle scar verysmall, small, medium, large, very small very small large Fruit: Size ofblossom scar very small, small, medium, large, very very small verysmall large Fruit: Shape at blossom end indented, indented to flat,flat, flat to flat to pointed flat to pointed pointed, pointed Fruit:Diameter of core in cross very small, small, medium, large, very mediummedium section in relation to total diameter large Fruit: Thickness ofpericarp very thin, thin, medium, thick, very thick thick thick Fruit:Number of locules only two; two and three; three and three and fourfour, five, or four; four, five, or six; more than six six Fruit: Colorat maturity cream, yellow, orange, pink, red, red red brown, greenFruit: Color of flesh (at maturity) cream, yellow, orange, pink, red,red red brown, green Fruit: Glossiness of skin weak, medium, strongstrong strong Fruit: Color of epidermis colorless, yellow yellow yellowFruit: Firmness very soft, soft, medium, firm, very firm very firm firmFruit: Shelf-life very short, short, medium, long, very long very longlong Other traits Time of flowering early, medium, late medium mediumTime of maturity very early, early, medium, late, very early early lateSensitivity to silvering insensitive, sensitive insensitive insensitiveDisease resistance Resistance to Meloidogyne susceptible, moderatelyresistant, highly resistant moderately incognita (Mi) highly resistantresistant Resistance to Verticillium sp. absent, present present present(Va and Vd) - Race 0 Resistance to Fusarium absent, present presentpresent oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici (Fol) - Race 0 (ex 1) Resistance toFusarium absent, present present present oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici(Fol) - Race 1 (ex 2) Resistance to Fusarium absent, present presentpresent oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici(Fol) - Race 2 (ex 3) Resistance toFusarium absent, present absent absent oxysporum f. sp. radicis-lycopersici (Forl) Resistance to Fulvia fulva (Ff) (ex absent, presentabsent absent Cladosporium fulvum) - Race 0 Resistance to Fulvia fulva(Ff) (ex absent, present absent absent Cladosporium fulvum) - Group AResistance to Fulvia fulva (Ff) (ex absent, present absent absentCladosporium fulvum) - Group B Resistance to Fulvia fulva (Ff) (exabsent, present absent absent Cladosporium fulvum) - Group C Resistanceto Fulvia fulva (Ff) (ex absent, present absent absent Cladosporiumfulvum) - Group D Resistance to Fulvia fulva (Ff) (ex absent, presentabsent absent Cladosporium fulvum) - Group E Resistance to Tomato mosaicvirus absent, present present present (ToMV) - Strain 0 Resistance toTomato mosaic virus absent, present present present (ToMV) - Strain 1Resistance to Tomato mosaic virus absent, present present present(ToMV) - Strain 2 Resistance to Phytophthora absent, present absentabsent infestans (Pi) Resistance to Pyrenochaeta absent, present absentabsent lycopersici (Pl) Resistance to Stemphylium spp. absent, presentabsent present (Ss) Resistance to Pseudomonas absent, present presentpresent syringae pv. tomato (Pst) Resistance to Ralstonia absent,present absent absent solanacearum (Rs) - Race 1 Resistance to Tomatoyellow leaf absent, present present present curl virus (TYLCV)Resistance to Tomato spotted wilt absent, present present present virus(TSWV) - Race 0 Resistance to Leveillula taurica absent, present absentabsent (Lt) Resistance to Oidium absent, present absent absentneolycopersici (On) (ex Oidium lycopersicum (Ol)) Resistance to Tomatotorrado virus absent, present absent absent (ToTV)

Example 2—Comparison of New HMC44131 Tomato with Check Variety

In the tables that follow, the traits and characteristics of hybridtomato HMC44131 are given compared to another hybrid. The data collectedis presented for key characteristics and traits. Hybrid tomato HMC44131was tested at numerous locations. Information about the hybrid, ascompared to a check hybrid is presented (based primarily on datacollected in Mexico, all experiments done under the direct supervisionof the applicant).

Table 2 below shows the characteristics of hybrid tomato HMC44131compared to hybrid Mesias as measured in Los Mochis, Mexico. Seeds weresown on August 14^(th) and planted on October 1^(st). There were 15harvests, beginning January 10^(th), and the 15^(th) harvest was April17^(th). Column 1 identifies the variety, column 2 through 6 identifythe total number of marketable fruit per weight class with column 2being the XXL class of greater than 175 gm fruit, column 3 the XL classof 150 to 174 gm fruit, column 4 the L class of 125 to 149 gm fruit,column 5 the M class of 100 to 124 gm fruit, column 6 the S class of 75to 99 gm fruit. Column 7, Cracking, is the total number of fruit withcracking, column 8, Blotchy, is the total number of blotchy fruit andcolumn 9, AVE Cluster Distance (cm), is the average distance betweenfruit clusters in centimeters (cm).

TABLE 2 AVE Cluster Weight Class Crack- Distance XXL XL L M S ingBlotchy (cm) HMC44131 0 2 45 86 74 18 14 28 Mesias 0 0 22 83 112 15 8930

Table 3 below shows the characteristics of hybrid tomato HMC44131compared to hybrid Mesias as measured in Culiacan, Mexico. Seeds weresown on August 27^(th) and planted on October 2^(nd). There were 15harvests, beginning January 11^(th) and the 15^(th) harvest was April17^(th). Column 1 identifies the variety, column 2 through 6 identifythe total number of marketable fruit per weight class with column 2being the XXL class of greater than 175 gm fruit, column 3 the XL classof 150 to 174 gm fruit, column 4 the L class of 125 to 149 gm fruit,column 5 the M class of 100 to 124 gm fruit, column 6 the S class of 75to 99 gm fruit. Column 7, Cracking, is the total number of fruit withcracking, column 8, Blotchy, is the total number of blotchy fruit andcolumn 9, AVE Cluster Distance (cm), is the average distance betweenfruit clusters in centimeters (cm).

TABLE 3 AVE Cluster Weight Class Distance XXL XL L M S Cracking Blotchy(cm) HMC44131 10 108 91 41 14 10 0 28 Mesias 2 58 179 112 86 4 0 30

Deposit Information

A deposit of the tomato seed of this disclosure is maintained byHM.CLAUSE, S.A.S., Florida Research Station, 5820 Research Way,Immokalee, Fla. 34142. In addition, a sample of the hybrid tomato seedof this disclosure has been deposited with the National Collections ofIndustrial, Food and Marine Bacteria (NCIMB), 23 St Machar Drive,Aberdeen, Scotland, AB24 3RY, United Kingdom.

To satisfy the enablement requirements of 35 U.S.C. 112, and to certifythat the deposit of the isolated strain of the present disclosure meetsthe criteria set forth in 37 CFR 1.801-1.809, Applicants hereby make thefollowing statements regarding the deposited hybrid tomato HMC44131(deposited as NCIMB Accession No. ______).

1. During the pendency of this application, access to the deposit willbe afforded to the Commissioner upon request;2. All restrictions on availability to the public will be irrevocablyremoved upon granting of the patent under conditions specified in 37 CFR1.808;3. The deposit will be maintained in a public repository for a period of30 years or 5 years after the last request or for the effective life ofthe patent, whichever is longer;4. A test of the viability of the biological material at the time ofdeposit will be conducted by the public depository under 37 CFR 1.807;and5. The deposit will be replaced if it should ever become unavailable.Access to this deposit will be available during the pendency of thisapplication to persons determined by the Commissioner of Patents andTrademarks to be entitled thereto under 37 C.F.R. § 1.14 and 35 U.S.C. §122. Upon allowance of any claims in this application, all restrictionson the availability to the public of the variety will be irrevocablyremoved by affording access to a deposit of at least 2,500 seeds of thesame variety with the NCIMB.

INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE

All references, articles, publications, patents, patent publications,and patent applications cited herein are incorporated by reference intheir entireties for all purposes.

However, mention of any reference, article, publication, patent, patentpublication, and patent application cited herein is not, and should notbe taken as an acknowledgment or any form of suggestion that theyconstitute valid prior art or form part of the common general knowledgein any country in the world.

What is claimed is:
 1. A seed of hybrid tomato designated HMC44131,wherein a representative sample of seed of said hybrid has beendeposited under NCIMB No. ______.
 2. A tomato plant, a part thereof, ora cell thereof, produced by growing the seed of claim 1, wherein thetomato plant or a tomato plant regenerated from the part or the cell hasall of the physiological and morphological characteristics of hybridtomato designated HMC44131 listed in Table 1 when grown under the sameenvironmental conditions.
 3. The tomato plant, the part thereof, or thecell thereof of claim 2, wherein the part is selected from the groupconsisting of a leaf, a flower, a fruit, a stalk, a root, a rootstock, ascion, a seed, an embryo, a peduncle, a stamen, an anther, a pistil, apollen, an ovule, and a cell.
 4. A tissue culture of regenerable cellsproduced from the tomato plant or the part thereof of claim 2, wherein atomato plant regenerated from the tissue culture has all of thephysiological and morphological characteristics of hybrid tomatodesignated HMC44131 listed in Table 1 when grown in the sameenvironmental conditions.
 5. A tomato plant regenerated from the tissueculture of claim 4, said plant having all of the physiological andmorphological characteristics of hybrid tomato designated HMC44131listed in Table 1 when grown under the same environmental conditions andwherein a representative sample of seed of said hybrid has beendeposited under NCIMB No. ______.
 6. A tomato fruit produced from theplant of claim
 2. 7. A method for harvesting a tomato fruit, the methodcomprising: (a) growing the tomato plant of claim 2 to produce a tomatofruit, and (b) harvesting said tomato fruit.
 8. A tomato fruit producedby the method of claim
 7. 9. A method for producing a tomato seed, themethod comprising: (a) crossing a first tomato plant with a secondtomato plant and (b) harvesting the resultant tomato seed, wherein saidfirst tomato plant and/or second tomato plant is the tomato plant ofclaim
 2. 10. A method for producing a tomato seed, the methodcomprising: (a) self-pollinating the tomato plant of claim 2 and (b)harvesting the resultant tomato seed.
 11. A method of vegetativelypropagating the tomato plant of claim 2, the method comprising: (a)collecting a part capable of being propagated from the plant of claim 2and (b) regenerating a plant from said part.
 12. The method of claim 11,further comprising (c) harvesting a fruit from said regenerated plant.13. A plant obtained from the method of claim 11, wherein said plant hasall of the physiological and morphological characteristics of hybridtomato designated HMC44131 listed in Table 1 when grown under the sameenvironmental conditions.
 14. A fruit obtained from the method of claim12.
 15. A method of producing a tomato plant derived from hybrid tomatodesignated HMC44131, the method comprising: (a) self-pollinating theplant of claim 2 at least once to produce a progeny plant.
 16. Themethod of claim 15, further comprising the steps of: (b) crossing theprogeny plant derived from the hybrid tomato designated HMC44131 withitself or a second tomato plant to produce a seed of progeny plant ofsubsequent generation; (c) growing the progeny plant of the subsequentgeneration from the seed; (d) crossing the progeny plant of thesubsequent generation with itself or a second tomato plant to produce atomato plant derived from the hybrid tomato designated HMC44131; and (e)repeating step (b) and/or (c) for at least one generation to produce atomato plant derived from the hybrid tomato designated HMC44131.
 17. Amethod of producing a tomato plant derived from hybrid tomato designatedHMC44131, the method comprising: (a) crossing the plant of claim 2 witha second tomato plant to produce a progeny plant.
 18. The method ofclaim 17, further comprising the steps of: (b) crossing the progenyplant derived from the hybrid tomato plant designated HMC44131 withitself or a second tomato plant to produce a seed of progeny plant ofsubsequent generation; (c) growing the progeny plant of the subsequentgeneration from the seed (d) crossing the progeny plant of thesubsequent generation with itself or a second tomato plant to produce atomato plant derived from the tomato hybrid tomato plant designatedHMC44131; and (e) repeating step (b) and/or (c) to produce a tomatoplant derived from the hybrid tomato plant designated HMC44131.
 19. Amethod of producing a plant of hybrid tomato designated HMC44131comprising at least one desired trait, the method comprising introducinga single locus conversion conferring the desired trait into hybridtomato designated HMC44131, whereby a plant of hybrid tomato designatedHMC44131 comprising the desired trait is produced.
 20. A tomato plant,comprising a single locus conversion and essentially all of thecharacteristics of hybrid tomato designated HMC44131 listed in Table 1when grown under the same environmental conditions, wherein arepresentative sample of seed of said hybrid has been deposited underNCIMB No. ______.
 21. The plant of claim 20, wherein the single locusconversion confers said plant with herbicide resistance.
 22. The plantof claim 20, wherein the single locus conversion is introduced into theplant by the use of recurrent selection, mutation breeding, wherein saidmutation breeding selects for a mutation that is spontaneous orartificially induced, backcrossing, pedigree breeding, haploid/doublehaploid production, marker-assisted selection, genetic transformation,genomic selection, Zinc finger nuclease (ZFN) technology,oligonucleotide directed mutagenesis, cisgenesis, intragenesis,RNA-dependent DNA methylation, agro-infiltration, TranscriptionActivation-Like Effector Nuclease (TALENs), CRISPR/Cas system,engineered meganuclease, re-engineered homing endonuclease, and DNAguided genome editing.
 23. A method of producing a tomato plant,comprising grafting a rootstock or a scion of the hybrid tomato plant ofclaim 2 to another tomato plant.
 24. A method for producing nucleicacids, the method comprising isolating nucleic acids from the plant ofclaim 2, or a part, or a cell thereof.
 25. A method for producing asecond tomato plant, the method comprising applying plant breedingtechniques to the plant or part of claim 2 to produce the second tomatoplant.